I’m Doubting Alden’s Future

[CasuallyWorked]

I’m one of their biggest fans. I will continue buying them. I wore my first pair of Indy boots twenty hours a day, every day, for a month. I can wear other shoes, but the trubalance feels so right I don’t like to take them off. There’s only one pair I can stand in all day at work though, and that’s a problem for a $700 shoe.

You said they are bad shoes but will continue to buy them, maybe that’s why they don’t care to change

Former Alden retailer here.

I just want to say... there isn't really a way to return Alden shoes back to the factory. If something is clearly defective, then yes, you can. Like the leather is torn or there's a chunk taken out of the sole. But if things are slightly imperfect, then returning them frequently is a fast track to getting dropped as an account. And by slight imperfections, I'm talking things like eyelet alignment, loose grain, heel stack equivalence, etc.

They have more customers than they can serve. Both retailers and end customers. Even as prices have risen, that hasn't changed. Most clients are demanding shell cordovan all the time. If you're an Alden dealer and you're breaking their chops a bit, they'll send the shell items to other stores who don't. If you're breaking their chops a lot, then they'll drop you.

It's not a new development really, this has been their QC for a long time. Some customers are really bothered by it, but most are not. I don't see any scenario where it drastically changes or improves, so you might just be better off looking for alternatives. As another poster mentioned, if you like the chunky Tru-Balance last, you can probably find a good fit with Trickers and Carmina. In my experience, their QC is a lot better.

oh wow thanks for sharing some perspective from the business side, always so interesting. But yes I agree for better QC trickers and c&j are great from my experience.

 

[CasuallyWorked]

Weston at times can come off as a hater, and make invalid points. He said the cork sole was bad because of “hydroplaining” lol.

He expects his Alden’s to be a pair of Nicks, ones a casual shoe and the other is built to handle fires and hard core work

 

[Hawk8789]

I love the cork sole. I did a week long hike on the pacific crest trail with the neo cork and it was great in sand, gravel, pine needles, dirt.

Weston made a comment about feeling the shank, which tells me the size he ordered is too long for him. I went down a half size and up a width and the arch support sits better, and I also sometimes feel the shank in longer boots. I find Alden can feel like they fit when they don’t, but it’s not always practical to find out since you have to actually wear them past the point of no return to tell a difference.

 

[clee1982]

If you like Alden’s aesthetic, CJ doesn’t really work (except 325 or 335).

Tricker comes closer

Carmina maybe only Detroit?

Grant Stone would definitely work, Leo might as well just be Barrie

 

[TimothyF]

Similar to my experience. I love the aesthetic of Alden footwear, but out of the dozen or so pairs I tried I would only say one or two should been sold at full price. Most of the others B grade. That is just my opinion, of course. A few shouldn't have been sold at all imo. The only brand I have had equally bad experiences with is AE. Most other brands like Grant Stone, Parkhurst, Truman, C&J, Trickers, etc have been largely positive.

Had Alden been at least 50/50 on QC (which is already a very low bar) I imagine I would be still wearing almost exclusively Alden. A few pairs were bad enough for either 50% discounts on the next pair I tried or returned for a full refund even a month or two later. In the case of the full refund it was because the shell was torn. But I had proof that it was like that from day 1, thankfully. I thought it was just an imperfection in the finish at the time.

Thank you for this account. I had a very similar experience, with shell tear in the moc toe stitching area, after one month of light wear. Posted here to the Alden thread, and as stated earlier the "fan boys" didn't bat an eyelash

Former Alden retailer here.

I just want to say... there isn't really a way to return Alden shoes back to the factory. If something is clearly defective, then yes, you can. Like the leather is torn or there's a chunk taken out of the sole. But if things are slightly imperfect, then returning them frequently is a fast track to getting dropped as an account. And by slight imperfections, I'm talking things like eyelet alignment, loose grain, heel stack equivalence, etc.

They have more customers than they can serve. Both retailers and end customers. Even as prices have risen, that hasn't changed. Most clients are demanding shell cordovan all the time. If you're an Alden dealer and you're breaking their chops a bit, they'll send the shell items to other stores who don't. If you're breaking their chops a lot, then they'll drop you.

It's not a new development really, this has been their QC for a long time. Some customers are really bothered by it, but most are not. I don't see any scenario where it drastically changes or improves, so you might just be better off looking for alternatives. As another poster mentioned, if you like the chunky Tru-Balance last, you can probably find a good fit with Trickers and Carmina. In my experience, their QC is a lot better.

... And I tried to work with the retailer, and they were giving me the run-around. The above explanation now totally makes sense as to why!

All in all, this is to say this thread is a much needed counterweight to the otherwise fanboying/peacocking posts. Both sides have value, and need to be displayed equally

 

[Duke Santos]

Former Alden retailer here.

I just want to say... there isn't really a way to return Alden shoes back to the factory. If something is clearly defective, then yes, you can. Like the leather is torn or there's a chunk taken out of the sole. But if things are slightly imperfect, then returning them frequently is a fast track to getting dropped as an account. And by slight imperfections, I'm talking things like eyelet alignment, loose grain, heel stack equivalence, etc.

They have more customers than they can serve. Both retailers and end customers. Even as prices have risen, that hasn't changed. Most clients are demanding shell cordovan all the time. If you're an Alden dealer and you're breaking their chops a bit, they'll send the shell items to other stores who don't. If you're breaking their chops a lot, then they'll drop you.

It's not a new development really, this has been their QC for a long time. Some customers are really bothered by it, but most are not. I don't see any scenario where it drastically changes or improves, so you might just be better off looking for alternatives. As another poster mentioned, if you like the chunky Tru-Balance last, you can probably find a good fit with Trickers and Carmina. In my experience, their QC is a lot better.

Sounds like they're still firmly in the phucking around phase and too arrogant to realize that the finding out phase is just around the bend.

 

[billsmith]

I own two pairs of tassel loafers plus the unlined chulas. My sense is that they’re akin to Apple before Jobs returned when they were near bankruptcy… they treat it like a religion, not a business.

 

[TimothyF]

Didn't their accountant embezzle a lot of funds a couple years ago? So yeah, on shaky ground

 

[Texasmade]

Didn't their accountant embezzle a lot of funds a couple years ago? So yeah, on shaky ground

And he spent it all on a woman who never even slept with him!!! Gives us accountants a bad rep as major simps.

 

[Hawk8789]

I heard something about staffing issues since Covid, is that true? I can’t imagine many people grow up wanting to build shoes by hand for someone else. If that’s your thing, you’ll probably be more interested in your own business, right?

 

[Blastwice]

You discovered Alden less than a year ago and now you "doubt their future"?

What is the future you think they have?

1. Better value elsewhere
2. Mainly coasting on historical brand marketing/nostalgia
3. Making better boots likely wouldn't expand their market at all
4. Don't they already raise prices every year?

This is their past, present and future.

 

[Son Of Saphir]

Alden may well be in its final days before the big crash.
Where are all the skilled industry workers in the U.S anymore?
All the factories have closed so there is a skill shortage and will be QC problems.
Who wants to work in a factory anymore?
AE and Alden cannot do any better,
they are doing the best they can with the limited skilled workers they have.

Then there is the crazy prices where Alden will probably price themselves out of the market shortly,
or they cut back quality and become a rubbish brand.

Edward Green may have a similar problem soon.
Crazy prices and little name recognition.
This cannot be sustainable.
People won't continue to pay $$$$ for shoes,
prices are out of hand.

 

[djohns7275]

Alden may well be in its final days before the big crash.
Where are all the skilled industry workers in the U.S anymore?
All the factories have closed so there is a skill shortage and will be QC problems.
Who wants to work in a factory anymore?
AE and Alden cannot do any better,
they are doing the best they can with the limited skilled workers they have.

Then there is the crazy prices where Alden will probably price themselves out of the market shortly,
or they cut back quality and become a rubbish brand.

Edward Green may have a similar problem soon.
Crazy prices and little name recognition.
This cannot be sustainable.
People won't continue to pay $$$$ for shoes,
prices are out of hand.

You can't compare Edward Green to Alden . Yes Edward Green are expensive , but they don't cut corners they make a great product which I agree is overpriced . Alden on the other hand cut corners , this in my opinion makes them a far worst value proposition than Edward Green . The videos on youtube by roseanvil where he cuts Alden in half and reviews them confirm what I had suspected all along . I can thing of no other shoe brand with a worse quality control of their product . It's as if the have Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder doing it .

 

[Son Of Saphir]

You can't compare Edward Green to Alden . Yes Edward Green are expensive , but they don't cut corners they make a great product which I agree is overpriced . Alden on the other hand cut corners , this in my opinion makes them a far worst value proposition than Edward Green . The videos on youtube by roseanvil where he cuts Alden in half and reviews them confirm what I had suspected all along . I can thing of no other shoe brand with a worse quality control of their product . It's as if the have Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder doing it .

Can understand your point.
The point is....both are getting very expensive are will be close to pricing themselves out of the market IMO.
People will not keep paying higher and higher prices.

 

[mebiuspower]

Didn't their accountant embezzle a lot of funds a couple years ago? So yeah, on shaky ground

A local shoe company says this former WCVB host received $15 million stolen from them. Now, they want it back.

What does Bianca de la Garza, the former WCVB host-turned-beauty product dealer, have in common with Alden Shoe Company, the 136-year-old men’s footwear business founded and headquartered in southeastern Massachusetts? […]

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