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

[jp2k1]

Need Supply has such unique make ups. Thoughts on this?

I want that but not even sure how to rock it. I wish sites like this would show the shoe on a foot and in sunlight.

The soles are really comfortable and really light. Much more so than the crepe IMO. If you dress "young", you can do it, no problem

 

[tifosi]



All - based upon the comments on the cremes for cordovan, I did my quick paper test again. I started playing with this stuff after I received my whiskey shells, as I wanted to lightly burnish the toes - my tests led me to a few conclusions.... 1) Saphir Dark Brown Cordovan isn't brown - its more of a deep eggplant, there is a lot of purple in it. Mixed with black cordovan it works well on burnishing Color #8 2) Saphir Dark Brown Cordovan can be used to impart a darker color into #8 on its own. 3) Alden Tan Paste is very hard, and appears to leave the most color behind - in this case, look at the middle finger of the glove - I'm not a fan of this color much and decided not to use it 4) Saphir Whiskey Cordovan seems to be a reasonable match for light Whiskey, but too light for the color of my shoes. I'll blend it with some black to lightly darken it when I use it on my whiskey shoes. 5) Saphir Black Cordovan cream is true black Anyway, this is what things look like as of now...

Spoiler

That's a great comparison. The Saphir Whiskey definitely looks more like my shoes. I will have to pick that up.

 

[Burzan]

All - based upon the comments on the cremes for cordovan, I did my quick paper test again.

I started playing with this stuff after I received my whiskey shells, as I wanted to lightly burnish the toes - my tests led me to a few conclusions....

1) Saphir Dark Brown Cordovan isn't brown - its more of a deep eggplant, there is a lot of purple in it. Mixed with black cordovan it works well on burnishing Color #8

2) Saphir Dark Brown Cordovan can be used to impart a darker color into #8 on its own.

3) Alden Tan Paste is very hard, and appears to leave the most color behind - in this case, look at the middle finger of the glove - I'm not a fan of this color much and decided not to use it

4) Saphir Whiskey Cordovan seems to be a reasonable match for light Whiskey, but too light for the color of my shoes. I'll blend it with some black to lightly darken it when I use it on my whiskey shoes.

5) Saphir Black Cordovan cream is true black

Anyway, this is what things look like as of now...

So wait... are you saying that on the left is the Saphir 05 Dark Brown?

I was thinking of grabbing some 71 Cordovan for my #8 shoes but now I am confused and I wonder what 71 Cordovan looks like in that case. I do like the eggplant color of the 05 Dark Brown but I guess it wont be suited for my brown cordovan shoes. Thanks for doing the comparison!


Here is a color chart from hangerproject to add to my confusion lol

 

[tifosi]



So wait... are you saying that on the left is the Saphir 05 Dark Brown?

I was thinking of grabbing some 71 Cordovan for my #8 shoes but now I am confused and I wonder what 71 Cordovan looks like in that case. I do like the eggplant color of the 05 Dark Brown but I guess it wont be suited for my brown cordovan shoes. Thanks for doing the comparison!

I use the Alden Color8 on all my #8 shoes. I really like it.

 

[Bobbo316]

All - based upon the comments on the cremes for cordovan, I did my quick paper test again.

I started playing with this stuff after I received my whiskey shells, as I wanted to lightly burnish the toes - my tests led me to a few conclusions....

1) Saphir Dark Brown Cordovan isn't brown - its more of a deep eggplant, there is a lot of purple in it. Mixed with black cordovan it works well on burnishing Color #8

2) Saphir Dark Brown Cordovan can be used to impart a darker color into #8 on its own.

3) Alden Tan Paste is very hard, and appears to leave the most color behind - in this case, look at the middle finger of the glove - I'm not a fan of this color much and decided not to use it

4) Saphir Whiskey Cordovan seems to be a reasonable match for light Whiskey, but too light for the color of my shoes. I'll blend it with some black to lightly darken it when I use it on my whiskey shoes.

5) Saphir Black Cordovan cream is true black

Anyway, this is what things look like as of now...

Yikes, I just bought that Dark Brown Cordovan 05. I was not planning on putting it #8's. I figured it would be well suited for cigar type shade. I may actually return it now.

 

[Buckeye Nation]

So wait... are you saying that on the left is the Saphir 05 Dark Brown?

I was thinking of grabbing some 71 Cordovan for my #8 shoes but now I am confused and I wonder what 71 Cordovan looks like in that case. I do like the eggplant color of the 05 Dark Brown but I guess it wont be suited for my brown cordovan shoes. Thanks for doing the comparison!

Yes, that is exactly what I am saying - you can see the bottle in the background - the label is up "Marron" is brown in french...

I do not have the Saphir Cordovan color, but should get it to compare to the AE Cordovan Cream I have been using

 

[Buckeye Nation]

Yikes, I just bought that Dark Brown Cordovan 05. I was not planning on putting it #8's. I figured it would be well suited for cigar type shade. I may actually return it now.

I don't know what to say - perhaps my jar would be different, but I bought it for my Cigar Long Wings - and I will likely still use it on them.

But in my case, my jar of Dark Brown isn't really brown - its a dark eggplant in reality; which I quite like actually.

Of course YMMV, and this is only my experience with this stuff - if anyone else has a jar, they can do the same test and we can compare...

 

[Burzan]

I use the Alden Color8 on all my #8 shoes. I really like it.

Does it help with maintaining the darkness that Alden #8 has?

What I basically need is two I think, I want to maintain/encourage the darkness of my AE MacNeils but maybe use neutral or lighter polish when required on my AE Leeds as they are much lighter. I want to push them to really become two distinct colors if possible.

Yes, that is exactly what I am saying - you can see the bottle in the background - the label is up "Marron" is brown in french...

I do not have the Saphir Cordovan color, but should get it to compare to the AE Cordovan Cream I have been using

That's awesome to know, that might be just what I need for my MacNeils. The Saphir Whiskey, I think it's labelled as "Fawn" in case people go looking to grab some, will be great for my Whiskey LHS. I am going to get a jar for sure.

I suppose the search continues for what to use on my brown cordovan though, for now I am fine with the Saphir Neutral cordovan cream.

 

[Vicious49]

I respect your OCD! I keep my Alden-branded tress to use for pictures. I put them in the shoe, snap some photos, and then replace them with better-fitting trees.

Hahahahaaha. This cracked me up for some reason.

 

[tifosi]



Does it help with maintaining the darkness that Alden #8 has? 

What I basically need is two I think, I want to maintain/encourage the darkness of my AE MacNeils but maybe use neutral or lighter polish when required on my AE Leeds as they are much lighter. I want to push them to really become two distinct colors if possible.
 

Edit. It didn't make my Aldens any lighter.

 

[Gunner72]

Atom #8

 

[Buckeye Nation]

Does it help with maintaining the darkness that Alden #8 has?

What I basically need is two I think, I want to maintain/encourage the darkness of my AE MacNeils but maybe use neutral or lighter polish when required on my AE Leeds as they are much lighter. I want to push them to really become two distinct colors if possible.


That's awesome to know, that might be just what I need for my MacNeils. The Saphir Whiskey, I think it's labelled as "Fawn" in case people go looking to grab some, will be great for my Whiskey LHS. I am going to get a jar for sure.

I suppose the search continues for what to use on my brown cordovan though, for now I am fine with the Saphir Neutral cordovan cream.

This may help you a bit - basically I started to play with these to blend my own colors to burnish my shoes as I saw fit. To start the process you need to know what the underlying color of each cream really is

Here is the same sheet as before - upper right is Saphir Cordovan Black and lower left is AE Cordovan - its very, very red.

To get to your Cigar - you simply blend Saphir Whiskey and Saphir Black in a ratio of 4:1 (that's 4 parts W to one part B) - this makes what is essentially a perfect Cigar match. You can see the large blob in the lower center - my custom Cigar Cordovan blend.

Anyway, you can mix this stuff however you want, there's no rules - but this is what I'm doing - hope it helps

Cheers,
BN

 

[blue collar]



Atom #8

Those are hot man. Nice stuff

 

[Bobbo316]

This may help you a bit - basically I started to play with these to blend my own colors to burnish my shoes as I saw fit. To start the process you need to know what the underlying color of each cream really is

Here is the same sheet as before - upper right is Saphir Cordovan Black and lower left is AE Cordovan - its very, very red.

To get to your Cigar - you simply blend Saphir Whiskey and Saphir Black in a ratio of 4:1 (that 4 parts W to one part B) - this makes what is essentially a perfect Cigar match. You can see the large blob in the lower center - my custom Cigar Cordovan blend.

Anyway, you can mix this stuff however you want, there's no rules - but this is what I'm doing - hope is helps

Cheers,
BN

Thanks man for your time and efforts with this. I am going to returnn the Dark Brown and exchange it for the Whiskey. I already have black. I really like the way that makeshift cigar color turned out. I think its perfect for a darker brown cordovan.

 

[Burzan]

This may help you a bit - basically I started to play with these to blend my own colors to burnish my shoes as I saw fit. To start the process you need to know what the underlying color of each cream really is

Here is the same sheet as before - upper right is Saphir Cordovan Black and lower left is AE Cordovan - its very, very red.

To get to your Cigar - you simply blend Saphir Whiskey and Saphir Black in a ratio of 4:1 (that 4 parts W to one part B) - this makes what is essentially a perfect Cigar match. You can see the large blob in the lower center - my custom Cigar Cordovan blend.

Anyway, you can mix this stuff however you want, there's no rules - but this is what I'm doing - hope is helps

Cheers,
BN

Awesome!

Thanks so much for the help. Next payday the whole line of Saphir cordovan creams are getting purchased for sure.