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Shoes that look better with age...

mizanation

By mizanation
in superdenim

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Chicken
Chicken

been going cheep: 1/4/10 1/4/10 purchased these clarks desert boots a while back. after moving to sunny california, i kind of got tired of hauling around in heavy duty boots, so i thought these

coleslawyum
coleslawyum

Minor update on my Toys McCoy Railman boots. 4 years. Vegetable tanned cowhide. Built like tanks.

riff
riff

I posted these on my tumblr a while back & realized I forgot to post here - my current workboot rotation:

fardin

fardin

Posted
Posted

wow clubby,

both boots are adorable. i dont own any butteros but i have seen them in new york at the Barneys sale, but the wrong size and the quality is perfect, they have em here in vienna too. and i always wanted to grab those frye jet boots. how are they? how is the sizing ? any fit pics?

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Tarmac

Tarmac

Posted
Posted
In NA, 9014. I believe in Japan it's 1914, aka The Beckman Boot. They're not listed on the US Redwing site I don't believe.

My god are they stiff...ouch. :(

That's the model number? I think that's a normal black GT then. someone told you they were beckmans?

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Freshdave

Freshdave

Posted
Posted

I'm waaaaay into those Blackbird/Esquivels...

They are seriously pricey though.

I called the shop just to see how many they had of my size and the answer was one pair. If I understood correctly, they're probably going to be doing them made to order.

Somebody get some!

D

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Akilae

Akilae

Posted
Posted

Okay, so I'm back with more problems on my Alden Indies... :(

The boot has started to stretch out a bit more nicely, still a bit tight in some places, but much better now. Then I starting having a severe pain in my right ankle. I poked around on the Indies and discovered: The right ankle on my Indy boots was somehow twisted during the stitching process, shifting the laces a few degrees inward, causing the speed hooks to place pressure on my ankle bone. Another way to look at the problem is: the ankle on my right Indy boot is short about half an inch of leather on the left hand side of the shoe.

I talked to a pedorthist about this, and he suggested I could replace the speed hooks with eyelets, but the metal eyelets would still be pressing on my ankle bone.

Is this something I should be bothering Alden (again) about? I've already primed the leather and pretty much broken in the boot, so I'm not expecting an exchange or refund of any sort. But is there anything they'd be able to do about it, or should I just stop pestering them and have a cobbler rip out the speed hooks?

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robin

robin

Posted
Posted

^ Hard to parse that Akilae. If using the lace hooks bothers your ankles, then maybe not use them? I usually wrap my laces around the boot at the first set myself.

Like so:

alden_flex_wingtip_boots_1-.jpg

Robin - Did you not like the 2-month worn-in look either?

No, I didn't like that pair either. I'm have no appreciation for undyed natural leather in general though, aged or not. Reminds me of puke.

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fattybfat

fattybfat

Posted
Posted
^ Hard to parse that Akilae. If using the lace hooks bothers your ankles, then maybe not use them? I usually wrap my laces around the boot at the first set myself.

Like so:

No, I didn't like that pair either. I'm have no appreciation for undyed natural leather in general though, aged or not. Reminds me of puke.

i agree with robin, just dont used the speedhook, i personally wouldnt want a cobbler remove the speedhook, and even if you replace it with regular eyelet and wont help, why waste the money?

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Akilae

Akilae

Posted
Posted
^ Hard to parse that Akilae. If using the lace hooks bothers your ankles, then maybe not use them? I usually wrap my laces around the boot at the first set myself.

Like so:

alden_flex_wingtip_boots_1-.jpg

Normally the speed hooks, when laced, should sit more or less centerline down the ankle. The left half of the speed hooks, on my right boot, is not centerline, and instead is shifted half an inch out, placing them smack on my ankle.

Okay, I ran and took a photo of my boots.

imgp4920wz2.jpg

imgp4921fp6.jpg

Notice how the leather on the inside of the the ankle on the right boot doesn't match up to the left boot, by a fair margin. Ugh, now that I look at it closely, even the leather stitched onto the back of the right boot is seriously skewed...

I would normally go with your way and not lace it up, except I've developed ankle pains and need the extra support. If I laced that far down, I'd need to wear ankle braces, making the whole point of a proper boot somewhat redundant...

EDIT: I suppose I could stop lacing the boot snug around my ankle, and leave a fair bit of space. I'm just somewhat bothered that the boot doesn't fit well when laced up.

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fattybfat

fattybfat

Posted
Posted

well, i saw the leather stitches on the back is off on the right compare to the left. But where are you referring to on the ankle? Are you referring to the twist of the tongue?

it is very unfortunate for you, but when you try on the 7 7.5 or 8 in the store, problem hasnt shown up yet. Anyway, maybe you should consider letting those people know what is wrong and they should be able to send it back to alden for restoration even they do not refund or exchange other one for you.

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Happy Hooligan

Happy Hooligan

Posted
Posted

I bought a pair of "seconds" combat boots about 20 years ago for a great price. I laced them up and found the left one was just off feeling... couldn't figure it out until I counted the speed hooks. The left boot had like 14 speed hooks on on side and 13 speedhooks on the other!

So a pair of 405's that are just a 1/2 off may not be that noticeable at first, but after a while you'll notice it!

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Akilae

Akilae

Posted
Posted
well, i saw the leather stitches on the back is off on the right compare to the left. But where are you referring to on the ankle? Are you referring to the twist of the tongue?

it is very unfortunate for you, but when you try on the 7 7.5 or 8 in the store, problem hasnt shown up yet. Anyway, maybe you should consider letting those people know what is wrong and they should be able to send it back to alden for restoration even they do not refund or exchange other one for you.

I guess you have to be in my shoes (pun intended) to really notice it. Imagine if the leather stitches on the bakc are off, then the front part of the ankle is also off by the same amount. It's as if you twisted a circle. I didn't notice this at the store because the pain was one of those things that come after constant pressure. Well, I'm off to the Alden shop right now to see if they can help me with the problem. Maybe I just have freakishly hard to fit feet.

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Mich

Mich

Posted
Posted
Normally the speed hooks, when laced, should sit more or less centerline down the ankle. The left half of the speed hooks, on my right boot, is not centerline, and instead is shifted half an inch out, placing them smack on my ankle.

imgp4921fp6.jpg

Notice how the leather on the inside of the the ankle on the right boot doesn't match up to the left boot, by a fair margin. Ugh, now that I look at it closely, even the leather stitched onto the back of the right boot is seriously skewed...

I do see clearly what you mean, the inside ankle of the right boot is definitely drawn further back then on the left boot.

I'm sure that's a problem when walking because the tongue will not cover up the speedhooks on the inside.

Good decision to take them back to the shop.

With these shoes you'd want to have a lot of pleasure walking in them for a long time coming.

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JonB27

JonB27

Posted
Posted

I completely agree with your comment... You should expect much better quality control then that. I would definetly take it back and just let them know that it''s been bothering you and you thought that you had to break them in.. Upon close inspection you realized that the right boot was not properly constructed... In my opinion they should help you resolve the issue.

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Akilae

Akilae

Posted
Posted

Just got back from the Alden store. The two sales associates leaned over the Indies for a few minutes and declared "Nope, we don't see it..." and suggested I lace the boots looser. One of the guys suggested tongue pads and gave me a few. By now I'm thinking I must be imagining things, so I decided to swing down to Minas on Wall St. and get a second opinion.

Minas laid his hands on the boots, compared the two sides, and declared "They're irregular!" When folded together, the two sides on the right boot don't match up. In order to match them up, the whole boot has to be skewed. Minas suggested if the Madison store couldn't see it ("They need glasses! The boots are fucking irregular! I make shoes, I know!"), then I should contact the factory directly. Which is what I'll do, since I've been to the Alden store four times in the past week and a half, and each time they convince me that I have weird feet or something.

I suppose if I'd gone with a less-snug fit then the boots would be fine. It just so happened the fit was very snug, making any flaws immediately apparent.

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rodeo bill

rodeo bill

Posted
Posted

^^^ I had a similar problem with a pair of boots I used to wear every day to work (but much less expensive than Aldens!) and it was a real nuisance. Even though mine didn;t have any metal work, I found the laces started rubbing on my foot. You're definitely right to take them back- let us know what happens:)

edit- just saw your update- that;s really disappointing! let us know how you get on with the factory!

I gave my cordovan AF53s a polish the other day, and here;s some early evolution pics. This is only about 2 months2951360695_fd1ae6d96a.jpg

2952212318_564ed9c8ed.jpg

2952212964_63b6d27b5c.jpg

2952213402_a61c094fac.jpg

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