The Official Alden Thread for 2021 - Share Reviews, Sizing, Advice, and Photos.

[DG123]

I second @audog

I would send to Steve at Bedo’s. Your job will be $500+ but you get what you pay for. My 405s are coming apart at the welt and when I can muster up the courage to be away from them for a few weeks they’re going to Steve (already emailed him).

Once I saw a You Tube video of Steve at Bedo's charging a customer $900 to resole a pair of vintage Florsheim wingtips my opinion was that he had overcharged the customer by about $700. No thanks.

 

[DG123]

Have you contacted one of the shoe shops recommended on this thread. Aram, Bedos, et al?

No. If I am going to have a pair of 405's resoled it will be done by employees at Alden.

 

[JSO1]

I second @audog

I would send to Steve at Bedo’s. Your job will be $500+ but you get what you pay for. My 405s are coming apart at the welt and when I can muster up the courage to be away from them for a few weeks they’re going to Steve (already emailed him).

lol for $500+ I would just buy a new pair of 405s, that’s highway robbery. He’s not rewelting them with gold

 

[Crizzlelovesyou]

No. If I am going to have a pair of 405's resoled it will be done by employees at Alden.

Let me just say that factory resoles (from any manufacturer) are never as high quality as a high end mail in cobbler. Personally I think you should look to see if you have a good local cobbler and give them the business first as it truly is a dying trade, otherwise go ahead and contact Alden. They do a lot of stuff with a resole, and they are known to sometimes not listen to special requests if you make any, but yeah they built they shoe and they can resole it too.

 

[DG123]

Let me just say that factory resoles (from any manufacturer) are never as high quality as a high end mail in cobbler. Personally I think you should look to see if you have a good local cobbler and give them the business first as it truly is a dying trade, otherwise go ahead and contact Alden. They do a lot of stuff with a resole, and they are known to sometimes not listen to special requests if you make any, but yeah they built they shoe and they can resole it too.

My local shoe repair shop sees me 4 or 5 times per year for heel cap installations, so I pay him $120 to $150 per year.
For a resole of my Alden Indy boots I want the same Alden Neocork sole and Thomas heel as Alden factory original. If people reply to this thread that their Alden restoration/resole did not change the fit I will send Alden a pair of 8 year old 405's.
If people reply that the fit changed significantly I will probably just keep wearing the boots and forget about any resole/restoration.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

I used a high-end cobbler in Los Angeles and he did outstanding work, much better than a factory recraft. He did a sole swap and stiched the new one on by hand, using the same holes that the old sole used, so the sizing didn't change at all. But his prices were so eye-wateringly high that to be honest, I probably won't use him again. I wouldn't spend $500 re-soling a pair of calfskin Indy boots.

I've had AE's recrafted by the factory in the past and the fit did change, but not significantly. I could still wear the shoes, just had to break them in again and they loosened up after a while. Seems like a good idea to ask Alden if the resole will change the fit, or just give the factory resole a try and see what happens.

 

[Crizzlelovesyou]

My local shoe repair shop sees me 4 or 5 times per year for heel cap installations, so I pay him $120 to $150 per year.
For a resole of my Alden Indy boots I want the same Alden Neocork sole and Thomas heel as Alden factory original. If people reply to this thread that their Alden restoration/resole did not change the fit I will send Alden a pair of 8 year old 405's.
If people reply that the fit changed significantly I will probably just keep wearing the boots and forget about any resole/restoration.

The change shouldn't be signifcant if there is any from the rewelting people think Alden does. The best thing is to ask Alden if they rewelt with the job, if they don't fit shouldn't change.

 

[Ancestral Star]

 

[audog]

And what’s WORSE is I ordered a third pair (backup for the backup) and they were back to the old brown.

That is almost a NASA "Multiple Redundancy" type of thing.

 

[smfdoc]

Happy Monday forum pals. Out for the morning to give a big box store some money. Mrs. smfdoc insisted. Happy wife; happy life.

 

[H. E. Pennypacker]

I used a high-end cobbler in Los Angeles and he did outstanding work, much better than a factory recraft. He did a sole swap and stiched the new one on by hand, using the same holes that the old sole used, so the sizing didn't change at all. But his prices were so eye-wateringly high that to be honest, I probably won't use him again. I wouldn't spend $500 re-soling a pair of calfskin Indy boots.

I've had AE's recrafted by the factory in the past and the fit did change, but not significantly. I could still wear the shoes, just had to break them in again and they loosened up after a while. Seems like a good idea to ask Alden if the resole will change the fit, or just give the factory resole a try and see what happens.

Who was the cobbler?

 

[Spaghettimatt]

I’ve had Alden resole/restore 403s and 975s and I never noticed a difference in fit due to relasting (one of the 975s came out snugger but only because they patched liner at the heel with another piece of leather).

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Who was the cobbler?

Willie’s shoe service.

 

[Vocans]

Posting in the right thread this time. Natty Indys today

 

[aapmm]

So I’ve only worn these twice so far, no rain or scuffing or anything. Do y’all know what’s happening? Did Alden just mess up applying their shell coating?

I guess I didn’t notice it at first since you can only see it under a lot of light