***The official Alden thread *** Share enthusiasm, reviews, sizing, advice, and photos.

[HorseHide]



I'm taking a quick and short trip to NY in a couple of days. where is the best spot to go try on some aldens! I do plan on stopping by the Jcrew liquor store.

Alden on Madison Ave and Leffot are must stops.

There have been lots of jokes about the people working at the Alden shop (**** kickerville, baby) but they have an unmatched selection (including multiple widths). And personally they have always treated me well, maybe because they are Mets fans and I hate the Yankees so we have something in common...

I have said it before, Leffot is the finest shoe store I have ever been inside (I haven't made it to LSW yet...). Not the selection but each shoe is beautiful.

Lots of other choices - Citishoes on Park Ave can surprise you, Epaulet in Brooklyn has great clothes, Moulded Shoe (especially if you want modified last), etc.

As for the J Crew Liquor Store, you will know more about Aldens than anyone that works there (which likely won't be an issue because they would actually have to assist you for you to discover that! ).

 

[Roguls]

Gentlemen, if you are in NY, you owe it to yourselves to go to two other NYC Alden retailers:

Moulded Shoe and Citishoes.

Alden on Madison is a good store. The guys in there have been there a long time, and they are very helpful - they just deal with a **** load of tourists so are not apt to be conversational; I've never been in there when there hasn't been someone else looking for shoes. And the last time I was there, there was some tool from CT who wanted to take a full stroll in cigar LHSs...they had to tell him that he can't crease the shell.

Moulded, though, is my favorite. But I have an affinity for the modified last.

 

[NewYorkIslander]



Hi NYR, Can you tell us your steps to get it looking like this from so beat up? Thanks!

Sure thing. Plain and simple, the Mac method. All done watching the first period of Rangers/Flyers...

Took an old tee shirt, ran it under some warm water. Wrang it out so it was just damp, and wiped down the shoes, uppers and edges. Let the shoes dry for about 2 minutes, then I went to work with a horsehair brush. I literally brushed hard for about 4-5 minutes each shoe. My arm was killing me after about 3 minutes, so I changed hands for a minute, before finishing with my stronger hand. C'est tout. This is why cordovan in my mind is so worth the extra bucks. I used NO polish, NO conditioning creme, NOTHING but the damp cloth and hard brushing. Next time I will prob add some Venetian cream to give it a real luster.

 

[Costa]

This man is very thankful

Every time I tried to post a "thank you", it said it wouldn't post. As you can see, I don't give up easily. My apologies for the "spam".......

 

[Alcibiades]

Hi NYR, Can you tell us your steps to get it looking like this from so beat up? Thanks!

Sure thing. Plain and simple, the Mac method. All done watching the first period of Rangers/Flyers...

Took an old tee shirt, ran it under some warm water. Wrang it out so it was just damp, and wiped down the shoes, uppers and edges. Let the shoes dry for about 2 minutes, then I went to work with a horsehair brush. I literally brushed hard for about 4-5 minutes each shoe. My arm was killing me after about 3 minutes, so I changed hands for a minute, before finishing with my stronger hand. C'est tout. This is why cordovan in my mind is so worth the extra bucks. I used NO polish, NO conditioning creme, NOTHING but the damp cloth and hard brushing. Next time I will prob add some Venetian cream to give it a real luster.

I was skeptical of the Mac Method at first, but I have to second this, it works wonders. Damp cloth + brushing + buffing works wonders. The only thing I would say is I would add more frequent treatments of Saphir Reno than Mac recommends.

 

[zissou]

^wax polish?

 

[Alcibiades]



^wax polish?

I meant renovateur - cordovan can appear "dry" sometimes, particularly in the creases, reno helps a lot with that in addition to general cleaning and conditioning. While there are plenty of downsides to using too much wax on cordovan, I haven't read about or seen significant downsides of using renovateur on a regular basis

I think Mac says wax polish every 15 wears, that seems fine, maybe you could stretch it to 20 wears or more if you do a reno only session in between. I use a mix of Saphir, Kiwi and Alden branded paste wax on my cordovan, the Saphir seems the best

 

[velomane]

Regarding the Mac method, what type of cloth do you use for the final buffing?

 

[Alcibiades]



Regarding the Mac method, what type of cloth do you use for the final buffing?

http://shoeshinekit.com/shoeshinecloth.html

I have 3 (one for black and color 8, one for dark brown and one for light brown)

In general, for shoe care, you need
- old t-shirts (for cleaning and for applying polish)
- a few horsehair brushes
- Saphir renovateur
- flannel cloths
- paste waxes in various colors
- boot care product (Montana, Obenauf, etc)
- Suede waterproof spray
- suede eraser & brush
- Maybe some sole edge dressing (it seems most people here don't really use them on Alden cordovan shoes though)

This should be sufficient

 

[mcarthur]



Beautiful - I am looking forward to mine. I pre-ordered with Shoemart last year for the Ravello Wingtop boot and I just saw that they charged my CC. I wonder if this means the boots have arrived and been shipped. Def need to call the store and confirm.
Love the Barrie last!

you will be very pleased!

 

[mcarthur]



Sure thing. Plain and simple, the Mac method. All done watching the first period of Rangers/Flyers...
Took an old tee shirt, ran it under some warm water. Wrang it out so it was just damp, and wiped down the shoes, uppers and edges. Let the shoes dry for about 2 minutes, then I went to work with a horsehair brush. I literally brushed hard for about 4-5 minutes each shoe. My arm was killing me after about 3 minutes, so I changed hands for a minute, before finishing with my stronger hand. C'est tout. This is why cordovan in my mind is so worth the extra bucks. I used NO polish, NO conditioning creme, NOTHING but the damp cloth and hard brushing. Next time I will prob add some Venetian cream to give it a real luster.

you have the method working very well. as the last step you should buff with a smooth cloth

 

[mcarthur]



I meant renovateur - cordovan can appear "dry" sometimes, particularly in the creases, reno helps a lot with that in addition to general cleaning and conditioning. While there are plenty of downsides to using too much wax on cordovan, I haven't read about or seen significant downsides of using renovateur on a regular basis
I think Mac says wax polish every 15 wears, that seems fine, maybe you could stretch it to 20 wears or more if you do a reno only session in between. I use a mix of Saphir, Kiwi and Alden branded paste wax on my cordovan, the Saphir seems the best

the ultimate goal is to never apply wax polish to your shells

 

[mcarthur]



Regarding the Mac method, what type of cloth do you use for the final buffing?

any smooth cloth such as teeshirts, underwear, towels, polos, painter cloth etc

 

[NotClever]

Epaulet can't be beat. Best store in the city and they have a couple of natural chromexcel boots that are just crazy nice. I am rocking the wingtip natural chromexcel boot right now! My favorite boot.

Any pics of the natural CXL boot?

 

[mens gaga]

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