Are these Aldens worth saving?

[ties@thedepot]

admittedly I bought these used and paid next to nothing for them. The uppers seem to be in decent shape but they need new soles and possibly heels. Do you guys think they may be worth the work and money? can anyone recommend a cobbler in chicago?

 

[saint]

Hard to tell, but Tom in Winnetka is a really good cobbler and he can tell you if he can save them. You could also try sending them to Alden for refurbishing.

 

[antirabbit]

I can recomend a cobbler not to go to.

DO NOT GO TO BROOKS.

I brought in a pair in a similar situation, and $120+ later they had damaged them beyond repair. They put some massive gouges on the toes, resoled the shoe with Allen Edmonds soles (think triple sole look, on a nice pair of vintage church's), and had the audacity to try and etch out the name on the bottom.
I have called and e-mailed my displeasure and they have only ignored me.
Oh, they did the same thing to my wifes shoes too.

SO, I would send them out to an outfit in NY or St. Louis, think one of them is called beehive?

You will get a much better value, plus they ship them, not driving down to the loop.

Good luck.

 

[robin]

Are they worth it to you? Personally I'd rather save the money spent on refurbishing them, sell them on ebay for a few extra bucks, and then buy a new pair.

 

[Gsin]

They look pretty rough. Get a new pair.

 

[Tarmac]

Are the outer soles worn through? Because they don't look very worn from the insoles.

 

[emptym]

Aldens are made to be resoled a few times. These look OK to me, unless if the toebox of the right shoe crushed. It looks like it from the pict. If so, I don't know if that can be repaired.

 

[Nick V.]

Originally Posted by emptym

Aldens are made to be resoled a few times. These look OK to me, unless if the toebox of the right shoe crushed. It looks like it from the pict. If so, I don't know if that can be repaired.

Actually, there are two methods of correcting the toebox:
1. While re-soling, replace the toeboxes. This is time consuming therefore expensive.
2. Insert a last inside the shoe. Saturate the upper in the toebox area with thinner. The thinner will melt the cement that laminates the toebox to the upper. Let the shoes cure on the lasts (at least overnight). As the thinner dries, the cement will re-bond causing the toeboxes to take shape while on the lasts. When fully dry the lasts are removed. There may be some cosmetic work to be done at this point, i.e. removing some of the creases on the toebox upper when it was crushed.

Results on this type of process are case by case. The shoes may not come out perfect but, at the very least there will a significant improvement.

 

[August]

I would suggest spending your money on a new pair.

 

[ties@thedepot]

well my sister suggested a cobbler that I guess has been around forever. I'm going to take them there and if it's reasonable I'll see how they come out.

 

[emptym]

Good stuff, Nick V. Thanks.
Good luck, ties@thedepot. Hope it works out.