***The official Alden thread *** Share enthusiasm, reviews, sizing, advice, and photos.

[saracen]

Originally Posted by slappy

Alden is like the lower east side of nyc. A lot of hip places there in the 70's-90's, then everyone got wind and moved in, now.its yuppie.central. Soon it was in vogue and people were willing to pay exhorbitant rents for the same places that were much cheaper in the past. We'll see if Alden can keep it up. As for Manhattan, well its almost entirely homogenized at this point, but wait I hear Brooklyn has some hip places....

I like the analogy. I have a good friend who lives in the east village and he always talks about how it's changed. I tend to go there every couple of months to visit and love it, but you can see the changes. It's a shame, but that's the way it goes.

 

[jasonfoote303]

Originally Posted by jerrybrowne

These are great. Can you tell me where you got them?

TIA

Madison Ave. You can try SF too

 

[Dewey]

No matter how much you pay for something, there is still a good chance you will be disappointed with it.

 

[Trapp]

Originally Posted by Dewey

No matter how much you pay for something, there is still a good chance you will be disappointed with it.

Truer words never spoken.

 

[jasonfoote303]

It seems to me that a lot of these quality control issues are the result of the prevalence of online shopping (no matter what brand or product). If we actually had the shoes in our hands we might not buy a defective pair. I realize that this is the only way that most of us are able to find the Aldens we want, but maybe there would be less defects if people never bought the pairs that had them in the first place. Catch 22 I suppose...

 

[mg428]

Originally Posted by jet

Aren't 90% of issues with indys? I mean it's their cheapest shoe and they crank out thousands of these especially the past year or two with the workwear boom. I'd say they are the hottest seller by 10 or 20 fold so it's not really very surprising they take less time with each shoe than say a lw or ptb.

It can be even more than 95% because I do not recall a single issue in this thread other than Indy boots- aside from Arigold's problem with his boots.

Of course we cannot blame only Indy boots depending on the problems reported here. Nonetheless, in my opinion this is probably one of the biggest venues where such problems are reported. This cannot not be a simple matter of luck. Please note that people suffer from their Indys manufactured with different specs for various retailers, including LS. Perhaps this happens 1 to 5% of Indy owners, and there is no way we cannot know that. I own 3 Indys and I am quite happy with them.

As these are workboots, and iconic with the Indy movie, this should not be expected.

 

[zippyh]

Originally Posted by mg428

It can be even more than 95% because I do not recall a single issue in this thread other than Indy boots- aside from Arigold's problem with his boots.

Longwings.
http://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=179917

Unlined chukkas.
http://www.styleforum.net/showthread...44#post3111144

 

[saracen]

I love Aldens as much as anyone here, but I think I'm hearing a lot of excuses and grasping for justifications without facts.

So far I've seen these facts:

Fact 1: No question there are some qc issues with some shoes/boots
Fact 2: Alden always seems to correct the problem.

Everything else are assumptions (opinions).

 

[airportlobby]

Yeah, my Winn Perry longwings had a couple problems that I decided to overlook (spotting on the toe, slightly weird toe shape on one shoe, different looking welts on the two shoes). If I had been able to examine them in the store, I might not have bought them. Alden's quality control is problematic. It's weird, when I see vintage pairs, the stitching always seems much smoother and more regular.

 

[bbhewee]

From the link above, looks like the Moc Toe Boot is coming in something else than the white vibram-type sole... http://horween.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/dsc_0051.jpg

 

[gnatty8]

Originally Posted by airportlobby

Yeah, my Winn Perry longwings had a couple problems that I decided to overlook (spotting on the toe, slightly weird toe shape on one shoe, different looking welts on the two shoes). If I had been able to examine them in the store, I might not have bought them. Alden's quality control is problematic. It's weird, when I see vintage pairs, the stitching always seems much smoother and more regular.

I wear my 2 Alden QC horror stories as a badge of honor..

 

[iansir]

In my experience the Indy boots appear to be a bit lower quality than typical alden standards. My Indy shoes in chromexcel are significantly better in finish than identical Indy boots in chromexcel. Still not a perfect shoe, but they are not supposed to be 'perfect'... I think they are fantastic shoes though

 

[slappy]

I really like those shoes, unfortunately they are very hard to find.

 

[airportlobby]

Originally Posted by gnatty8

I wear my 2 Alden QC horror stories as a badge of honor..

Yeah, they're usually easy to forgive as part of the charm.

 

[jasonfoote303]

I decided to try these laces with my new shoes. I think it adds to the vintage outdoorsy charm of this pair. What do you guys think?