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Freewheelers Golden Spike / Ironalls / Trailblazer / S601XX / Hollows (not visible) / Lofgren

Sassafras Fall Leaf Sprayer (non-selvedge) 2 year-ish lots of wash *Its difficult to capture the actual color

Wifey in the 712 cut

Tilley cap / Rocky Mountain x Warehouse / Union Special / Hollows / 601rb from @Lazerr / Frank’s boots

Posted in the Warehouse thread recently about my 1001xx DSB which, among many other repairs, had just had their back pocket patched up. Did the same repair yesterday on my 601xx and thought I’d document it a little better. Pictures should tell the story okay. Forgot to photo the final product, but it looks about the same as it did on the 1001xx…

I've been trying to get back into posting outfits daily, as you've probably noticed. Flat Head 6002W denim jacket 3Sixteen 15th anniversary crosscut flannel Equus Belt Flat Head 3005 Wesco 7500

did some hand repairs. Not the prettiest.

It was my 220 that didn’t shrink as much, they ended up about half an inch above tag size. The 221 shrank to exactly tag size, so it’s negligibly the same. @Geeman thigh on 224 for size 30 is just under 12”/30cm after shrinking, hem at 7.5”/19.5cm.

Not a fan of Rose Anvil. Very biased.

If you are thinking about buying Alden's, or any other big name boots, check out Rose Anvil on youtube. He cuts boots in half to examine their materials and construction. The Alden Indy video may be enlightening.

When I worked retail in the city I loved SALE WEEK! back when there was only 1 or 2 sales a year. Because on my way to work I'd see my favorite designers put their signs up (they were never advertised in advance) and could get in early to get sample pieces and seconds. Pretty much everything I've ever purchased ON SALE I've regretted and not worn much before reselling because as mentioned above it wasn't THE PIECE. I figure if I didn't love it enough to buy it at full price, I don't need it. After I stopped working in the retail fashion machine, and stopped doing WAYWT I pretty much stopped shopping. I've got rules now that I first had to stop me retail therapy shopping. 1. only 5 new garments per year 2. I need to be able to meet the maker if I wanted to, keeps me supporting local or flying to LA to go to Mr Freedom Excludes socks, undies and exercise clothes, although most of my cycling clothes fit the rules. Still love a bargain at an op shop, the worn once then sold or donated but the shop didn't know that label kind of find. Out of my 3 wardrobes and numerous storage boxes of clothes, I pretty much wear my Byborre baggy pants, one pair of jeans, the same 8 t-shirts on rotation, Mr Freedom denim jacket and workshop denim jacket. Every now and then I'll wear a dress to work and everyone freaks out. I get my dopamine kick from going plant shopping now and convincing Steve to let me dig up more lawn for more garden.

M41027 Don’t know much about these. Seems like pretty much the same exact details, top to bottom, as the MP-619, but in a much wider cut—same hardware and everything. Maybe from early after the switch to M-series? They’re also sized on the smaller end: these are tagged W36 and fit more similar to the W34 of the late ‘90s Photos taken after a machine wash and one day of wear

"Cultural value" is the biggest way any brand tries to mark up the shit out of their products. I won't say it's not actual value, but I will say it has no correlation to the cost of labor, materials, and logistics. It's horseshit when factored into msrp. That doesn't mean the Aldens are objectively overpriced - that's in the eye of the buyer - but if there is similar labor, materials etc in another shoe then you can figure Alden is likely goosing their msrp by more and trading on their name, and it's up to an individual if they want to pay the extra if the last is really perfect for them, or if they really want the name or whatever. It's why LVC is such a ripoff imo, unless, for whatever reason, as some have argued, the cut is just magic for you when nothing else is. The leather itself on the pair reviewed is enough to turn me off - I'm not much of a boot guy but I hate that sort of finish and it really does look cheap imo.

did some hand repairs. Not pretty but was fun to try.

OA03 cut is very nice. Size 32. 33 would have also fit, but I'm liking the fit a lot. Gave them a 1-hour soak in the hottest water my bathtub provides, and then a warm machine wash on gentle with no detergent. They shrank to slightly below S&S's predicted measurements, so I'm confident they are fully shrunk at this point. Denim is really, really nice. I don't have anything similar to it in feel or appearance.

Flat Head HNW-61W Emerald flannel Freenote RJ-1 Riders Jacket Iron Heart Tochigi belt Flat Head 3005 Wesco Mister Lou

I’d send these back - finishing is atrocious and it worries me the seller has used these pics insofar as it’s possible he thinks the standard of build is good. I’ve owned 2 pairs of Alden shoes - one pair similar to the D2614 but with a raised seam on the moc toe which had the seam on different positions so it didn’t look a pair, the other was a plain tie blucher and the sole needed replacing within weeks. My experiences with these mean I’d never buy another of pair of Alden’s. I bought a pair of Rancourt beef rolls many years ago while I was working in the US - a colleague recommended them. They were heavily reduced in a sale. They were probably worth the sale price; I wasn’t really impressed but they were comfortable for the office. I’m pretty sure their shoes are Blake stitched, so that goes some way to keeping their prices down.

more storm rider inspo.

10 months of abuse on this. Due for some repairs or maybe retirement

Real McCoys A-2 Flat Head hickory stripe shirt Hollows Rail belt Flat Head 3005, 5 months wear John Lofgren Steadfast boots

Shane Macgowen died and I don't have a Pogues shirt so the vintage Guiness will have to suffice. Godspeed to a poet. 🖤 Future Monsters x Ebbets Field wool cap Wool BSA jacket with patches Vintage sweater Guiness tee Vintage belt Black 501 STF Vintage cowboy boots Aside from the occasional trucker cap I'm not really a baseball cap guy but I couldn't resist this 1900s design. Thoughts?

@Duke Mantee, I take pretty much everything on the internet with a grain of salt. I think when the boots are cut in half and the materials used are layed out for all to see, it's up to each person to judge the quality and value. I know that he has shown some interesting construction shortcuts that many of the makers have used. If I'm buying something for $100s or $1000s of dollars, I'm going to look into all of the details before shelling out money. I also want to point out I have no affiliation with Rose Anvil and no grudge against Alden. Just giving people another piece of input.

The rose anvil review misrepresents the intent of the boot by reducing its value to a sum of parts, as if buying a shoe is equivalent to shopping for a table saw. First of all, cultural value matters. Alden is the most iconic American clothing brand still manufactured in the USA. The styles are timeless. The quality hasn't meaningfully changed in decades. Again, if you want Aldens, there's really no alternative. Grant Stone has comparable styles but is manufactured (well) in China with trendy leathers that cater to a younger audience. The review also sensationalizes a number of points or presents opinion as fact. The rebuttal here is good and makes the points better than I could: https://100wears.com/in-defense-of-the-alden-indy/

My 711 (same denim as 714) didn’t shrink at all after a warm wash/machine dry. They do stretch a bit, so you are probably fine.

Damn Julian. I had been eyeing those. They are awesome. Hoping to find a newish pair of the hair-on-hides some day

I'm a 12D in the loafers and 13B in the mocs. Rancourt customer service helped with sizing. Brannock is 13B. My feet are a bit wonky though - both are almost completely flat and my left is a full brannock size shorter than the right - so take my advice and experience with that in mind. Their lasts seem to work well for my feet which can be a challenge. Both were only about $120 new at their pre-sale too and at that price I can't complain, nicer than most options in that price range. Paying the full $320 MSRP may have been a different story though. I agree with your thoughts on the shell though. If I'm going to pay for shell, I'd rather just grab the Alden LHS. Rancourt's are a bit rough and ready in styling in my experience, which isn't a bad thing for chromexcel and some of their moc-styled option but sort of defeats the purpose of buying shell for loafers. I'm not a huge fan of Rancourt's full strap and weltline loafers. The extra couple of hundred dollars for Alden is definitely worth it for those. I do like their more rugged offerings though (boots, mocs, beefrolls, etc.). I live in a more rugged place though, so the moc stylings work pretty well here.

Huh, wasn't it the other way around? The 221 barely shrank?

Was thinking to get the same size as my 220a/221 (which is w32), look like I can get a w31. The fabric looks promising! Enjoy.

@obama np! My 220a and 221 are both w31. And yeah, the waist of the 220a didn't shrink quite as much as the 221 in the same size. The denim for the 224 is different from both. Really thick twill lines and visually slubbier after the first wash (warm machine wash on gentle, no detergent).

Yeah, the measurements on the site seemed promising, but I emailed Ryo to check and he replied that the new Lee jeans are some of the slimmest they've done (at least through the hips and thighs), even more so than the S40s. Supposedly the aim is, in part, to fill the niche of a slim–tapered cut, which wasn't really present in their lineup previously. Oh well.

Wtt small j28-k olive for small j84-s raf thankies

wwii jeans. Another crotch bites the dust….

I wanted to share a post made by Jonah of Blackbird Spyplane, who I had the pleasure to meet on our motorcycle trip through the Bay this summer and have been really enjoying reading since. His blog and paid newsletter cover topics throughout the fashion world, primarily focusing on smaller-'artisanal' brands, which places them somewhat adjacent to us here, at least ideologically. In a recent newsletter that I want to discuss a bit, he asks: Should clothes never go on sale? Jonah outlines several reasons for his position -- that sales are often contrived marketing tactics by larger luxury brands who can overinflate their base price most of the year and then trim during 'sale' season, a game which smaller brands with smaller margins have trouble playing; that clothes coming in and out of "season" is an arbitrary distinction that pushes people to make unnecessary purchases for the sake of helping clear stores' inventory; and that lower market prices for clothing fuels the race-to-the-bottom epitomized by fast fashion, where workers and the environment are endlessly exploited in an effort to maximize the bosses' bottom line. An additional point that I have spent some time reflecting on comes from Daniel Garrod, a designer for the brand James Coward, who Jonah interviewed for the article: “Maybe there’s a brand you like that costs a lot,” he said, and when sale time hits “you decide to buy in and get yourself a piece, but it’s not your choice piece, and — as much as any object can create a sense of fulfillment — you don’t feel fulfilled by that object at all.” This is a striking and relevant reminder to me because it's something I have felt somewhat often in my time as part of this community. As someone who has worked at or around minimum-wage for the past decade, I feel it's necessary to either budget for weeks to get a piece that I want, which often rules out jumping on the really excellent low-volume brands like Ooe, Roy, At Last, etc., or to find my clothes secondhand, which often leads to the exact situation Garrod describes above: you compromise on the exact piece you're after to get something more accessible, and aren't able to form a meaningful relationship with the piece you ended up with as a result. I'm curious what your experiences are with this issue, whether or not you agree with the points made in the newsletter, how you factor things like price and availability into your purchases of specific brands, and would love to also hear which items you have that feel meaningful to you in a way that justifies the cost and effort to procure them.

RRL Heavy Flannel Freenote Cloth RJ-1 Jacket Flat Head 3005 @ five months of wear Wesco Mister Lou Horsehide

Long time no post Elhaus Jacket Anachronorm Cardigan Tezomeya tees Beams Plus Reebok

Beanie knit by a friend as a Christmas present a few years ago 3Sixteen green crosscut shirt Denime by Warehouse pullover hoodie Warehouse/Rocky Mountain Featherbed down vest Flat Head 3005 Wesco 7500

Feeling a bit "British" today...the new Tricker's arrived and I am in love. Had to pair them with my Jamieson's sweater.

I have the same machine. It plows through leather, denim and all sorts of heavy fabrics.

Soft arsed Italian wearing the heavy layers in Canada. Comfy outdoor Inverallan Og107 Yukkkks

Sandinista Masstard Phigvel Dickies Vans

Winter wonderland as well here...

Outdoors and Indoors today... Vintage / Salomon / Buaisou / McCoys / At Last / Darn Tuff / Birks

Filson denim vest. Runabout brander. Neal chambray. Somehow lost a button

Before you lavish me with anymore praise.. you’d better see the design process.. ..we have better drawings Blu-tacked to our fridge. 🤣

I made Duke a little rack for his leatherworking tools today.. I drilled a plywood template for the holes.. it's easier to get the spacing right on the temp, rather than have numerous confusing lines on your oak. I cut a block of oak from a board and sanded it square.. put the template on top and drilled through the holes.. not all the way through, just a couple of inches down Used my guage to mark out a 15mm thickness Cut it off Sanded it flat.. Keeping the thread on topic, cuff of Warehouse 😎 Repeat I did the same thing from the bottom of the board (which is why i only drilled 2" deep) giving me 2x pieces of oak with a series of holes on the exact same centers and one piece of oak with no holes to form the base of the rack and laminated the bottom 2x pieces together ..this is only because when i look in the bottom of the holes.. i don't want to see the point left behind from the forstner bit Pfft.. so unprofessional.. says the guy who can't even focus^ his camera I wanted some wooden dowels to peg it together.. but i wanted them in a dark contrasting colour... huf!.. y'know that moment in your day when all you need a small perfectly round piece of honduras mahogany but it's been on the endangered species list since 2013?.. well fear not superdudes Double 0s Life Hacks #47 Cut some pieces of mahogany Y'know those people who say 'you can't fit a square peg in a round hole' ?.. well those people are fucking idiots Get a bit of metal with a hole in it and nip it up in the vice ..tap your little peg in ..tap it through with a drift punch, turn the metal upside down and hey presto! ..Mahogany dowels Using the oak off cuts.. i've bobbin'd out a couple of slots.. Im going for a mid-century kind of vibe ..started building it.. i'll hide that little rebate later, i french polished the internal parts before i put the top on so i wasn't french polishing through a narrow slot ..tapped my handmade pegs in.. now the labourious task of sanding out the marks from the machines.. ..french polished the outside and gave it a coat of wax ..and there you have it .. the hiden rebate

New pup in the family

These have been getting a lot of wear lately