Shoes that look better with age...

[rockon99]

sup to the guy at Bier Stein in Eugene, Oregon with crispy newish Alden Indy's.. donno if youre on this forum.. will reppp

[SLAB]

thanks for the link Fre$co, i just checked the site and saw two different models (smoke jumper and semi-dress) both with distressed roughout but color was different! Guess lighting conditions were not the same?

[onehundy]

^ damn it, they can't ship Aldens to the US, good find tho.

[fardin]

megatron then i would change em, they do strech a bit , but not to much. go for the iron rangers, red wings has them in EE width too.

[LFC4ever]

Horsehide is NOT Shell Cordovan.

Horsehide is much cheaper and do not have the same prized features of shell.

Should not pay shell cordovan prices if they were advertised and asking for such.

Nice boots though!

From Context

Genuine Shell Cordovan is the art of tanning at its finest. More than just a color, it is a very specific leather, from a particular part of a horsehide. The irregular oval shaped shells are tanned, stuffed, shaved, and then polished-- a process taking six months. Each shell is slowly steeped in gentle vegetable liquors. The shells are genuine hot stuffed then slicked onto glass frames to dry. Each shell is hand curried and shaved by highly skilled artisans to expose the shell. Dyes are hand rubbed on for a deep aniline finish. Finally, the shells are hand glazed to achieve the rich, glossy look and feel prized by fine craftsmen.

[dkatz]

So who owns a pair of OSB Trail Oxfords - and what are your thoughts ?

I would love these in loden green chromexcel (a la the Unionmade trail oxfords) with a slightly less clunky soul (like Alden's wedge), and maybe brass eyelets

[dkatz]

Here's to hoping JimmyC sees this over here and gives us more detail shots of those good-looking Whites...

Whites

[damienos]

From Context

Genuine Shell Cordovan is the art of tanning at its finest. More than just a color, it is a very specific leather, from a particular part of a horsehide. The irregular oval shaped shells are tanned, stuffed, shaved, and then polished-- a process taking six months. Each shell is slowly steeped in gentle vegetable liquors. The shells are genuine hot stuffed then slicked onto glass frames to dry. Each shell is hand curried and shaved by highly skilled artisans to expose the shell. Dyes are hand rubbed on for a deep aniline finish. Finally, the shells are hand glazed to achieve the rich, glossy look and feel prized by fine craftsmen.

From Askandyforums.

Quote Originally Posted by Pentheos View Post

Don't look it, but it's hard to argue with the tag (and the ad). I've never seen 60 year old shell before, so maybe this is what it looks like when it is that old.

Unfortunately, I think the future buyer is going to get burned in this case. In most of the vintage advertising I've seen, it's the Wolverine soles that are made of shell cordovan and NOT the uppers. The soles have already been replaced on that eBay pair and the uppers look like standard calfskin leather. I've been in search of actual pictures of the shell soles, but am disappointed once again.

Here's a couple of advertisements for the Wolverine shell soles.

http://books.google.com/books?id=_lM...rdovan&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=sEE...rdovan&f=false

The other possibility is that these are the "inner-shell horsehide" (whatever that is) advertised by Wolverine here. A quick bit of research shows that Wolverine shifted its own tannery operations entirely to the production of "shell horsehide" in 1914, but it looks like they had their own "recipe", which might have resulted in their shells not having the typical Horween smoothness and shine: http://books.google.com/books?id=iSE...sehide&f=false

Last edited by Cardinals5; November 24th, 2010 at 03:38.

Another Post:

I think Cardinal must be correct here. If you look closely at the old ads, they clearly show a hand bending what is a sole of a shoe, indicating, I suppose, that the sole is made from shell. The uppers just don't look it. At any rate, it's insane that these boots are at $127 after only two bids.

[LFC4ever]

Interesting. And complicated!

[cheapmuthafukr]

so... found these shoes today at an old family shoe store in the neighborhood...

vibram soles

shoes are made in the usa by w.l.kreider, the salesman(3rd generation in that store) found them in the back room after we started talking about good made in the usa shoes. he said that i could come back and hed look more in depth in the back store room and let me see what they have. also told me that a little while back, they sold 30 pairs of 1990s aldens, every pair that they had in the store, to some japanese guy at 100 a pair, and got him in touch with someone they know in atlanta who sold him 200 pair.

[baldy]

is it wrong to repost due to black hole?

ravello longwing

chromexcel all weather walker

[fre-co]

Lovely stuff. Where did the ravellos come from?

Nice bit of marble too.

Hold on, there's been some disappearing posts.

[denimjunky]

is it wrong to repost due to black hole?

Nice shoes.

Whats black hole? I noticed my post from yesterday vanished somewhere...

[ThinFinn]

so... found these shoes today at an old family shoe store in the neighborhood...

vibram soles

shoes are made in the usa by w.l.kreider, the salesman(3rd generation in that store) found them in the back room after we started talking about good made in the usa shoes. he said that i could come back and hed look more in depth in the back store room and let me see what they have. also told me that a little while back, they sold 30 pairs of 1990s aldens, every pair that they had in the store, to some japanese guy at 100 a pair, and got him in touch with someone they know in atlanta who sold him 200 pair.

those are really nice ones, muthafukr...any more info, maybe some online sources?

[beatle]

I think they are vintage

[denimjunky]

[fre-co]

They look great, what is the leather again?

[denimjunky]

Thanks!

Leather is water buffalo sienna.

They were kind of tight as new (D width) but now they are the comfiest boots I own.

I hope I can get around soon to take some shots at my new SDs.

[erk]

Thanks!

Leather is water buffalo sienna.

They were kind of tight as new (D width) but now they are the comfiest boots I own.

I hope I can get around soon to take some shots at my new SDs.

I hope so too!

[morse9443]

What is the toe denimjunky, regular or single celastic? They look great.

[cheapmuthafukr]

those are really nice ones, muthafukr...any more info, maybe some online sources?

yep... vintage. the company hasnt been in buisness for a while.

[denimjunky]

What is the toe denimjunky, regular or single celastic? They look great.

Thanks!

Single celastic toe.

[Megatron1505]

Whats the concensus on Chippewa boots in comparison to Red Wing? I'm looking in particular at their logger boots.

[mtchfrnk]

According to them they invented the logger boot, though I think other companies have perfected it. I like the looks of their engineers. They have more or less the same pedigree as Red Wing but their 'art direction' isn't as good. And their boots have a lot more synthetics than the Red Wing 'heritage' boots that are most often photographed here; that's could be good or bad depending on your taste.

[coleslawyum]

I think Red Wing uses better leathers for their uppers, but its reflected in the price. Chippewa is pretty good boot for the cost of them especially if you are looking for a boot for under $200.

Vintage Chippewas are a whole other animal. Well worth it if you find a pair that fits you.

[FranklinCosgrove]

Just got some Tricker's, really happy with them.

[baldy]

fre$co, i got them from leffot. i was super lucky as i was looking for shell longwings at the time and they had these in my size.

[darkblack]

Thanks!

Leather is water buffalo sienna.

They were kind of tight as new (D width) but now they are the comfiest boots I own.

I hope I can get around soon to take some shots at my new SDs.

Hi denimjunky, is that the standard or block heel, can you post some shot on side?

[denimjunky]

Block heel and swing last. More posts. (From before):

My new ones have the standard heel and last!

[ThinFinn]

Sooooo nice...what width do you wear in rw's btw.?

+!