The Official Alden Thread for 2017 - Share Reviews, Sizing, Advice, and Photos.

[totalair1]

Get some nice thick boot socks and get a yourself a nice winter boot!

I Agree. If you're not wearing made to measure shoes/boots then wearing a thicker sock is fine...specially on boots.
I vary width only on my Alden's. Barrie, Trubalance and maybe a few others a D width, Grant, Van Aberdeen I wear and E width.
Since virtually everyone has 1 foot bigger than the other...there's no real, way to get a perfect fit on both feet...So I always size to the larger foot.

Steve

 

[Michigan Planner]

Talk about kizmit!

I placed a pre-order for the hunter green suede blucher with Unionmade last spring. I am well aware of the Alden waiting game but for about a month I had been meaning to send off an email to them asking about the status of these. I finally got around to emailing them today and low and behold they just received the shoes yesterday and were in the process of contacting those who had pre-ordered! So hopefully they will be on my feet in just a few days.

I don't have any green suede so I am definitely looking forward to receiving these!

 

[larryr]

the eagle has landed... Ravello captoes

 

[tifosi]

What the??? Who in the??? Where in the???

 

[bkdc]

the eagle has landed... Ravello captoes

Captoes and the Grant last just go hand in hand. So smart looking!

 

[djbanor]



What the??? Who in the??? Where in the???

eBay, I think. Even better if I'm wrong.

 

[KPDarb]



I generally err on the side of going a size larger. I can always use a tacco insole or tongue pad to take up more space. Too small makes a shoe unwearable.

I do the same. I live in darn tough cushion or full cushion socks with boots/bluchers. Occasionally I can get away with Chups on shoes but my feet are a total pain.

 

[bkdc]

I do the same. I live in darn tough cushion or full cushion socks with boots/bluchers. Occasionally I can get away with Chups on shoes but my feet are a total pain.

Darn Tough are the only socks I buy. I hope my other socks fall apart fast so I have nothing left but Darn Toughs. Boot cushion or Boot full cushion for me. I should try wearing Cushion on the left (larger foot) and full cushion on the right (smaller foot).

 

[gilby]

the eagle has landed... Ravello captoes

Overcome with envy then I remembered that the Grant last doesn't work for me.
Beautiful!

 

[larryr]

yes, ebay, from leffot a while back

 

[TexasTexter]

yes, ebay, from leffot a while back

Very nice! I need to shop the bay more!

 

[metranger8694]

My first post of 2017.
Happy New Year to everybody . Health, happiness and many more pictures!

From left to right , my Indy boot collection.
Cigar on Barrie with crepe sole, Color 8 on Trubalance with commando sole, Color 8 on Plaza with commando and Black shell on Modified with double water lock sole.
Missing a Grant Indy.

Them boots are very nice.

I thought that Trubalance boots were wider than Barrie and that the immediate left boot was TB!

The Barrie looks significantly wider than the TB.

 

[losrockets]

It's been almost 2 years and 20-25 wears and my barrie lasted Alden x JCrew #8 captoe boots still don't feel broken in. I remember my RL Marlow wingtips taking some time but probably after 10-15 wears they were quite comfortable. The heel padding seems to be cut funny and overflows beneath the arch of my foot, so the arch isn't laying on a uniform surface since I'm unable to wear it down sufficiently (hard to explain). Maybe this last isn't for me. I've tried on the Plaza in stores and it was immediately comfortable, likewise w/ the flex welted alden loafers I have on the ?Copley last. Rain last and a couple different AE lasts work well for me, Simpson and Vass U not so much. Should these boots still feel uncomfortable after an average workday? They were a special gift to myself for rocking one of my big licensing exams in medschool so I don't want to part w/ them if I don't have to, but I've been thinking about it more and more.

 

[mdubs]

Instead of posting a ton of pictures here, I will just inform you all that I have posted up a slew of my recent acquisitions up on my AoSD blog... They can be found here:
http://aldenofsandiego.com/category/thoughts-and-blog/new-additions/

This includes the:
Color #8 LHS
Whiskey Monk
Black Shell George Boot
Snuff Suede Tassel
Navy Suede Tassel
Cigar Semi-Brogue
Cigar PTBs
Whiskey LHS

I still have several more to post all of my pictures up on, but will keep working on it here shortly...

Cheers,
Mike

 

[MT1982]

IME, all lined barrie shoes are very consistent in sizing across the different materials (i.e. shell, suede, and calf). Exception: Chrmxl tends to stretch much more and can fit looser than others with a bunch of wear.

I have some Natty CXL perf cap toes from JCrew and they fit more snugly than some Choco NST's I had from LeatherSoul (got rid of them). Two different boot designs - cap toe vs NST. And two different materials - CXL and suede. However I still expected them to fit somewhat the same since they were both Barrie last and both size 9. I feel like the NST's had a ton more room in them. Even my 9.5 Grant last Cigar cap toes seem to have more room than my CXL cap toes. Is that normal? I recall reading in the old Alden thread (not the 2016 one, but the one before that) that JCrew's just tend to fight tighter? I've only ever tried on four pairs of Aldens - the two I currently own, the Choco Tankers, and a pair of suede cap toes from Frans Boone in Grant last. So I don't have any other perf cap toe experience on the Barrie to compare to my JCrews.

The JCrews fit like a glove. Love 'em.