familyman

No offense to the owner (familyman?) but I think those chukkas look horrible. Not my cup of tea. Sorry! Don't hate me!

No offense taken, not my boots.

Those aren't necessarily meant to show an ideal of what cordovan can age too, but rather to show what they can turn out like if one wears them hard for a very long time. Different than cow to be sure.

Does Redwing make this shoe?

When I was a kid this was the 'boss man' shoe. Everyone else on a worksite would have on boots except for the boss and he would, without fail, have on a pair of these.

Outstanding boots Bill.

Sent you a pm about them.

You're an expensive guy to know.

Meeting requirements 2-4 (only sort of 4) is the Grenson shap mentioned above. It's here at Pediwear:

http://www.pediwear.co.uk/detail.php?stock_ID=2138

For about $250 before shipping. Leather sole, though that could be changed out for probalby less than the cost of the Alden when it's all added up.

Criminey! My computer goes all wonky for a couple of days and I come back to 5 new pages of posts.

Greg - good looking boots.

Bill - Do you have any pictures of the single leather smokejumpers from the side? I'm still considering a different sole on mine.

I'm also sort of in love with these whites from the cheri site.

what can you guys say about this pair? any thoughts? greg? anyone?

are they better quality than whites semi dress? or what? they are cordovan btw.. anyone has it here?

I'd bet they are right on par with Whites. From what I know, when they make boots they don't screw around, it's all very good. The horse hide is interesting. I've read a bit about older boots made in horse (not shell) and it's supposed to be incredibly durable, very abrasion resistant and stupidly stiff. It was one of those materials you didn't really want unless you needed it for some reason. I'd love to hear how they wear.

The nicest of which are these green boots you can see in their website's lookbook:

Any idea who made them?

I can't see the toe well enough to see if they're russells or not. Interesting to see a boot with a boat sole.

I can imagine a boot like that done in slightly darker kangaroo would be quite nice.

You've got a good thing going there Bill.

Damn this is a nice collection. I've been waffling between exactly that Indy and the Whites, and this doesn't help. I want them both.

Funny this is I found this thread late. Read the first 15 pages (when you only had the Russells) then jumped 2 years forward to find this. Nicely done.

Thanks. I finally don't have any 'holes'. My Russells were first and the wingtips were next and the gap between them was HUGE. It's a much smoother transition now. It's great to wake up and choose.

As far as the whites vs Indys. I don't have regular Indys. only the shell, but they are very similar boots aestetically, they just come at it from different ends. I would say that stitching, materials and craftsmanship are equal in both. Whites makes boots and Alden makes shoes. Whites is making the most refined shoe like boot they can and Alden is making the most boot like shoe they can and they hit very close to each other. They do have styling differences, the heel, the larger welt on the Whites that sort of thing and those are important to the feel of the boot.

In the end, the Semi dress is a boot and you wouldn't be afraid to do booty things in it. Go for a hike, shovel the show, push someones car out of a ditch, boot stuff. The Alden at it's heart is a shoe and I think it's much better suited to the shoe stuff that makes up 99% of the lives of 99% of us.

Really, you probably need both.

How does a leather sole compare to crepe in terms of weight and flexibility?

Leather will (as a rule) be heavier and stiffer. Single leather is pretty light and flexible but it has functionally no cushioning.

Crepe is what it is and there is a reason it's used. It's light, flexible and comfortable. If you really like crepe then buy crepe, other soles are.....different.

Thanks everybody. I love my boots.

The new whites - yes it's a #269. I guess I thought someone else here had a pair. The waist on the sole is very nice. They use Quabaug heels too which is only interesting because they have both the Quabaug and Vibram logos on the bottom. The only things out of the ordinary on them is the #369 and eyelets all the way up. I love them. They fill the gap between the #8 indy's and the Russells perfectly. Just a great boot.

jiomitori - Where my semi dress say 8C 02 08 my smokejumpers say 8D 39. They can't possibly be from 1939, the soles are wrong for that. So without a date code I have no idea when they are from. They're from ebay so their past will remain a mystery. The soles are attached with brass screws though which is very cool and I haven't noticed that on any more modern pairs.

My Whites Semi Dress came today. Nothing that hasn't been shown here before really, but these are mine.

Unboxing

Carefully unwrapping the first one

Crappy picture of the bottom. Very nice waist for a rubber sole.

Boots

Together with the whole family:

Alden Cigar wingtips

Alden #8 Indy Boots

Whites Semi Dress

Whites Smokejumper

Russell Mocassin Hiker

I asked Bill about this not too long ago, and according to him, Whites is no longer offering the cap toe...and honestly, as far as the semi-dress boots go, I think its probably for the better. I do like the pull tab and wonder if that option is available.

Ok, cool. The thought bounced around in my head after I saw it as a option on Wesco's site. I was just thinking that if wesco could do it then maybe...... it's cool though. I'm just so antsy to get my boots. I'm like an 8 year old on December 23. My wife is not amused.

Cap-toe + 269:

http://item.rakuten.co.jp/klax-on/071209a/

Bloody hell. I was -this- close to asking Bill if Whites would do a cap toe on mine but it slipped my mind and I never got around to it. What a great looking boot.

On a side note I just placed an order for some White's Semi Dress in brown with the single leather sole...let the six week wait begin!

Don't want to get your hopes up but my whites only took 4 weeks from when I ordered them from Bill untill he got them. Now I have to wait for them to get here which sucks but they are done a lot sooner than I thought.

I can't wait. I was sort of hoping that Bill would take some pictures of them and post before they headed my way.

i always considered red wings to be sort of middle tier in terms of quality and that's why i've kind of been avoiding them. this just reinforces that impression.

My Russells and my Whites both exibit this to a greater or lesser degree. I don't think it's a quality issue.

My daughter wanted to go to the Houston Space Center for her special birthday treat so we headed down there today. Pretty cool stuff. One of the displays had about 15 space suits and uniforms worn on various missions. One of them (I think in was a Gemini flight) had on the Dehner Alert Boot. http://www.dehner.com/customboots_military.html

It was one of those boots on my list of boots to think about but after seeing them in person they've moved way up my list. The real space boots had a few details that made them super cool like a metal insert on the heel. The shape of the toe and the boot in general was quite nice and the proportions all around were good. It would be a pretty cool boot to have made up in tan.

What's the story behind those Greg?

I'm not sure I've ever seen black with the green fabric sides. I'm sure I've never seen a pair of that vintage in that sort of condition.

Nevertheless, great insight & highly appreciated. btw, the curl/warp of the shoe from the middle to the toe is borne from a lot of crouching. I'm always on my haunches, because of my kids or activities, & as a result, the shoes have taken on a patina from my life.

My #8 indies do the same thing for the same reason. If you tree the shoes pretty quickly after you take them off the curl will reduce quite dramatically.

Saw those J Crew/Redwings in the catalog and wondered if a nice coat of sno seal would basically un-distress them.

Not using shoe trees and resting your shoes for at least a day in between wear is bad. You will destroy your shoes from the inside. They won't get beat up looking any faster by not putting shoe trees in. The black shell looks awesome, especially on chukkas...congratulations.

Not sure I totally agree with all of this.

How many times has a new poster posted a pic of shoes and everyone here can just tell by looking at them that they don't use trees. I do agree (in theory anyway) that trees should help shoes last longer and I certainly agree that shoes need to rest. I do think however that treed shoes and non treed shoes will visually age differently and I can see the attraction to both looks.

I think everyone should know about the advantages of tree use but I understand if someone decides not to use them.

I had to mail a pair of telemark boots to Italy for warranty work about a decade ago and it cost me $75 back then. Shipping can be crazy.

I ordered my whites (not here yet) with rubber on the bottom. I would have gone double leather and left it at that but I already find myself not wearing my leather soled Aldens as much as I'd like because of my dirt driveway. Rains a lot here in east Texas and I end up walking through some level of mud about half the time. I know leather soles can actually take this just fine but I don't like how they hold on to dirt when they're wet.

I do think that a layer of rubber still looks correct for a vintage shoe. Just depends on the vintage.

I'm in Houston so I know hot and humid.

Two important things:

1. Rotate. If you're really sweating in them then give them two days between wearings to dry out. Use trees.

2. Wear good socks. Smartwool makes fairly thin but amazingly comfortable socks that work well in dressier boots and their standard socks are great in a heavier boot. Good socks really do make a huge difference.

You have to accept that boots that are sweated heavily in might not last as long. When it's cool enough that you can comfortably wear pants (say below 85) then it's cool enough for boots.

Thanks for the help, but I guess I should clarify...this is going beyond the capabilities of saddle soap.

I think that's called 'irreversable patina'.

Sometimes it's permanent.