The Official Alden Thread for 2019 - Share Reviews, Sizing, Advice, and Photos.

[mdubs]

My Mr. G's have landed! Now to try laces. Thoughts?
View attachment 1257284
I like colour and texture, so I'm leaning toward the burgundy rawhide.

They are looking good, I am not a fan of Rawhide laces on anything other than super rugged boots and boat shoes. So I will let others chime in on that one...

Yesterday it was upper 70's F and sunny, today upper 40's F and rainy. Indy's work in either type of weather. Today's choice. View attachment 1257296

Well, those look like a great choice regardless of the weather!!!

More Natty CXL. These are soo versatile with fabrics and patterns. Love em..
View attachment 1257322

Chippy, those Natty CXL Tassels from BB are looking terrific!

-Mike

 

[Thrift Couture]

^ Thrift.. I concur.. the rawhide adds another nice dimension.. really nice addition..

Thank you Sir! I ended up using the tan laces for now, the rawhide were a bit to thick for the eyelets. I'm going to try a burgundy round braided lace next.

 

[Thrift Couture]

I know this has been covered, now I need the info for the nano spray. Lol!

 

[up1911fan]

I know this has been covered, now I need the info for the nano spray. Lol!

Spray them outside and let them dry.

 

[Thrift Couture]

Spray them outside and let them dry.

What is the preferred brand?

 

[up1911fan]

What is the preferred brand?

Tarrago, I order it from Amazon.

 

[audog]

Tarrago, I order it from Amazon.

+1 on Tarrago Nano Spray

Amazon.com: Tarrago Hightech Nano Protector Spray - 6.53 Ounces: Shoes

Amazon.com: Tarrago Hightech Nano Protector Spray - 6.53 Ounces: Shoes

www.amazon.com

 

[Thrift Couture]

Tarrago, I order it from Amazon.

Cool, thank you.

 

[chipshot]

Ohh the scorn.. lol ?

 

[Profligate47]

#8 NST Aberdeen

 

[manolo tomato]

I hate to kill the mood, but I am experiencing some frustrating issues with my new Aldens.

As a dissertation gift to myself, I recently purchased a long longed for pair of Alden 9901 PTBs in black shell. I love the shoes casual yet elegant style and always wanted to own a pair of shell cordovan shoes. Unfortunately, after only a few wears, I am experiencing some frustrating issues with the shell on the left shoe.

I was already a little bestranged when wearing the shoes outside for the first time. When unexpectedly I got into a little rain shower - these happen from time to time here in Norway - the shell quickly absorbed some raindrops resulting in a sort of bubbly appearance. I wasn't too worried about it as I had read in many comments that this typically disappears over time and with some brushing. Strangely though, this exclusively happened on the left shoe. The shell of the right shoe repelled any water droplets better than my gore-tex raincoat.

The real trouble started after three wears when some white-ish matte spots appeared on the vamp of the left shoe, right were the shoe experienced the most bending. It almost looked like a thin coating layer began to peel off. Yet, being a newbie to cordovan, I believed that this had to be the famous bloom that could easily be buffed off. I started to seriously question my brushing skills when hours with the horsehair brush showed no real effect. I did eventually manage to make the spots appear less prominent using minute amounts of Renovateur and medium pressure with a cotton cloth. However, upon close inspection, this treatment only resulted in evening out the transition zone between the spots and the surrounding surface. It was hard to capture this by camera (see pictures below), but with the naked eye, the spots are still clearly visible and appear significantly less shiny than the rest of the shoe. As visible in the second picture, the surface of the shell next to the spots also appears to be slightly rippled.

Only after finding JSO1's post from last year that I believe to understand what happened. The photos he posted of the acrylic finish coming off from his Ravello boots look exactly like the spots on my shoe before the intensive buffing.

Now to my question: Is this a problem commonly experienced with Alden shell? Does anyone have any experience of how Alden handles such problems? I must admit that I am extremely underwhelmed by this. Surely, the shoes are not unwearable, but I am struggling to accept this defect considering that I paid a full retail price of about 800 USD for the shoes making them my most expensive pair.

Lastly, to my shame, I must admit that up to now I was completely unaware of the fact that Alden applies an acrylic coating to their shell. This might be slightly esoteric, but I dislike the idea shell cordovan basically being treated like a corrected grain leather. Is this common practice in the industry and do other brands like Vass and Carmina also coat their shell?

This text turned out much longer than expected. Sorry about that. I'm looking forward to hearing what you think about this.

Cheers, Manuel

Spot with worn off coating (?) on the vamp of the left shoe.

Long streak where the coating has peeled off (?) and rippled finish to the right of it.

 

[smfdoc]

I hate to kill the mood, but I am experiencing some frustrating issues with my new Aldens.

As a dissertation gift to myself, I recently purchased a long longed for pair of Alden 9901 PTBs in black shell. I love the shoes casual yet elegant style and always wanted to own a pair of shell cordovan shoes. Unfortunately, after only a few wears, I am experiencing some frustrating issues with the shell on the left shoe.

I was already a little bestranged when wearing the shoes outside for the first time. When unexpectedly I got into a little rain shower - these happen from time to time here in Norway - the shell quickly absorbed some raindrops resulting in a sort of bubbly appearance. I wasn't too worried about it as I had read in many comments that this typically disappears over time and with some brushing. Strangely though, this exclusively happened on the left shoe. The shell of the right shoe repelled any water droplets better than my gore-tex raincoat.

The real trouble started after three wears when some white-ish matte spots appeared on the vamp of the left shoe, right were the shoe experienced the most bending. It almost looked like a thin coating layer began to peel off. Yet, being a newbie to cordovan, I believed that this had to be the famous bloom that could easily be buffed off. I started to seriously question my brushing skills when hours with the horsehair brush showed no real effect. I did eventually manage to make the spots appear less prominent using minute amounts of Renovateur and medium pressure with a cotton cloth. However, upon close inspection, this treatment only resulted in evening out the transition zone between the spots and the surrounding surface. It was hard to capture this by camera (see pictures below), but with the naked eye, the spots are still clearly visible and appear significantly less shiny than the rest of the shoe. As visible in the second picture, the surface of the shell next to the spots also appears to be slightly rippled.

Only after finding JSO1's post from last year that I believe to understand what happened. The photos he posted of the acrylic finish coming off from his Ravello boots look exactly like the spots on my shoe before the intensive buffing.

Now to my question: Is this a problem commonly experienced with Alden shell? Does anyone have any experience of how Alden handles such problems? I must admit that I am extremely underwhelmed by this. Surely, the shoes are not unwearable, but I am struggling to accept this defect considering that I paid a full retail price of about 800 USD for the shoes making them my most expensive pair.

Lastly, to my shame, I must admit that up to now I was completely unaware of the fact that Alden applies an acrylic coating to their shell. This might be slightly esoteric, but I dislike the idea shell cordovan basically being treated like a corrected grain leather. Is this common practice in the industry and do other brands like Vass and Carmina also coat their shell?

This text turned out much longer than expected. Sorry about that. I'm looking forward to hearing what you think about this.

Cheers, Manuel

View attachment 1257388
Spot with worn off coating (?) on the vamp of the left shoe.

View attachment 1257389
Long streak where the coating has peeled off (?) and rippled finish to the right of it.

Send the pictures to the retailer where you got them. They may ask you to send them back so they can send them to Alden to address the finish issues.

 

[NYDRH]

I hate to kill the mood, but I am experiencing some frustrating issues with my new Aldens.

As a dissertation gift to myself, I recently purchased a long longed for pair of Alden 9901 PTBs in black shell. I love the shoes casual yet elegant style and always wanted to own a pair of shell cordovan shoes. Unfortunately, after only a few wears, I am experiencing some frustrating issues with the shell on the left shoe.

I was already a little bestranged when wearing the shoes outside for the first time. When unexpectedly I got into a little rain shower - these happen from time to time here in Norway - the shell quickly absorbed some raindrops resulting in a sort of bubbly appearance. I wasn't too worried about it as I had read in many comments that this typically disappears over time and with some brushing. Strangely though, this exclusively happened on the left shoe. The shell of the right shoe repelled any water droplets better than my gore-tex raincoat.

The real trouble started after three wears when some white-ish matte spots appeared on the vamp of the left shoe, right were the shoe experienced the most bending. It almost looked like a thin coating layer began to peel off. Yet, being a newbie to cordovan, I believed that this had to be the famous bloom that could easily be buffed off. I started to seriously question my brushing skills when hours with the horsehair brush showed no real effect. I did eventually manage to make the spots appear less prominent using minute amounts of Renovateur and medium pressure with a cotton cloth. However, upon close inspection, this treatment only resulted in evening out the transition zone between the spots and the surrounding surface. It was hard to capture this by camera (see pictures below), but with the naked eye, the spots are still clearly visible and appear significantly less shiny than the rest of the shoe. As visible in the second picture, the surface of the shell next to the spots also appears to be slightly rippled.

Only after finding JSO1's post from last year that I believe to understand what happened. The photos he posted of the acrylic finish coming off from his Ravello boots look exactly like the spots on my shoe before the intensive buffing.

Now to my question: Is this a problem commonly experienced with Alden shell? Does anyone have any experience of how Alden handles such problems? I must admit that I am extremely underwhelmed by this. Surely, the shoes are not unwearable, but I am struggling to accept this defect considering that I paid a full retail price of about 800 USD for the shoes making them my most expensive pair.

Lastly, to my shame, I must admit that up to now I was completely unaware of the fact that Alden applies an acrylic coating to their shell. This might be slightly esoteric, but I dislike the idea shell cordovan basically being treated like a corrected grain leather. Is this common practice in the industry and do other brands like Vass and Carmina also coat their shell?

This text turned out much longer than expected. Sorry about that. I'm looking forward to hearing what you think about this.

Cheers, Manuel

View attachment 1257388
Spot with worn off coating (?) on the vamp of the left shoe.

View attachment 1257389
Long streak where the coating has peeled off (?) and rippled finish to the right of it.

they need to be refinished. I had this on my first pair too(not from rain)

 

[stephenaf2003]

These bad boys are shutting down for the night, after a long day of protecting my feet from the elements.

 

[beowolf]

9 years doesn't seem bad, sending to Alden? Or someone else?

I sent them to Alden for a full restoration