Shoes that look better with age...

[skalogre]

Holy crap, Bill! Nice Alden boots there! Cordovan? Lovely colour!

[braid]

I ordered these early December; they were customed sized to order with the double leather sole. Took about 5 weeks to deliver which is better than I was expecting. I then took them to a local cobbler to have vibram #705's installed.

I must admit I'm more used to the silhouette of slimmer european shoes so these will take some getting used to. The leather and craftmanship is second to none. I will comment further on comfort in the coming weeks once they've broken in a bit.

Here's what they look like...

I would like to thank Chicken San for the inspiration for I would not have bought a pair if it wasn't for his posted a while back.

[Chicken]

great page.

i might be moving on to vibrams with my semi dress myself, braidkid.

[Bill2]

Holy crap, Bill! Nice Alden boots there! Cordovan? Lovely colour!

Cordovan indeed! My first pair of Cordo shoes. I take them off everynight and give them a once over to really take in all the undulations. My girl calls them my horse butt boots.

The color really did come up vibrant in the pics too! Probably didn't hurt that I used the burgundy carpet as a backdrop, lots of dark red light flying around.

[GregNYC]

Bill, those 4060's rock, great vintage-looking tones. I have them in black, but black is so monotone-ish....

Braidkid, those Whites look so good with the jeans, they give me new enthusiasm in mine. They're at the cobbler now getting the Cat's Paws. With double leather and rubber too, they look chunkier, which takes away from the wideness of the toe box that had bugged me. If mine look anywhere near as good, then I'll be wearing them a lot. And of course they do fit!!

BTW, I'm gonne be selling a pair of RW 875's, worn twice. 9.5E, like $40+shipping.

[braid]

Thanks Greg,

Can't wait to see pics of yours!

[dunkin deeznuts]

nice stuff braid and bill

[dave023]

nice boots guys!!!

[Happy Hooligan]

awesome pics today! Those whites are wearing on me. I still have trouble with the double sole, but I'm starting to like.

Greg, why don't you buy say size 11 shoes and sell them? I can't wear your 9's....

[jordanelias]

I have nothing to contribute, save for that I have been inspired by this thread.

When the day comes, I may find myself owning a pair Charles Tyrwhitt Cedar Jodhpur boots.

[moykky]

Nice boots everyone!

braidkid, that cat is awesome! She looks like about to kick somebodys ass soon!

[fre-co]

I was going to say the cat looks distinctly unimpressed with the boots.

Some lovely stuff on this page.

Unfortunately I think I am going to have to put off my White's semi-dress purchase as I have a huge expense of a wedding day to fund. But I will be back Bill!

[Leonard Leroy]

god damnit it bill, i want 4060s so bad.

[amlai]

yeah, there you go ^

that's how the one in the video looked like. except the hardware was more black. yours look reddish brown. which is cool, too.

maybe you're right. might be their older models.

Almost definitely an older model of the 405. The 405 has had some leather variations over the years and in the past, the boot was more of a dark brown than the reddish brown / tan we have seen in recent times. The lighting in the video makes it hard to tell for sure, but it looks to be the color that the Indiana Jones fanatics try to match (and is therefore probably from around the early 80s).

[GregNYC]

Unfortunately I think I am going to have to put off my White's semi-dress purchase as I have a huge expense of a wedding day to fund. But I will be back Bill!

What shoes you gonna wear for the wedding?

Greg, why don't you buy say size 11 shoes and sell them? I can't wear your 9's....

I just might have to! I'm still trying to find a fresh pair of 875s to supplement my beeswax-impregnated, denim-stained pair that fits like a glove. In my search, I've tried 9, 9.5, and 10. But I'm gonna try the 10 again in a couple of stores, since I now have some more insoles handy. That flat heel-counter situation I think varies from pair to pair, and I might luck out. My 8130s are fitting nicely, but I had to go to 9.5.

The lighting in the video makes it hard to tell for sure, but it looks to be the color that the Indiana Jones fanatics try to match (and is therefore probably from around the early 80s).

This, from the indygear.com page, is my favorite Indy color. Looks perfectly vintage, without shading into flat orange or brown. I'm sure the tanning and dying and year of creation had a lot to do with the color, since they have looked brick-red or oragne the last few years. I haven't been able to replicate this nice tone by using polish.... The sole looks different now too, no longer black (unless that was a resole)

[fre-co]

What shoes you gonna wear for the wedding?

The Crockett & Jones Sandowns!

I'm having a navy blue Glen check suit made, which I think will look pretty good with those.

[amlai]

My guess is that this is the first and will likely be the only pair of bespoke shoes to end up in this thread, but I just got my pair of bespoke shoes after waiting 9 months for them. I figured the people reading this thread might be interested in something like this even though the thread tends to be about work boots and other similar footwear.

As a bespoke shoe, a custom last specially fitted to my foot measurements was made. In addition, I could've asked for just about anything imaginable and Mr. J. P. Myhre (who is a Norwegian shoemaker) would've made the shoe, but I wanted an everyday shoe that would could withstand the wear and tear that one would have through frequent wearing on NYC pavement. I also didn't want to go nuts designing a crazy looking shoe as frequently happens when one has nearly unlimited choice. Mr. Myhre had a pair on display that I liked, so I ordered a pair nearly identical to them:

My first impressions of the shoes:

(1) This is the first pair of shoes that I've ever owned where the gap between the facings at around the first eyelets isn't appreciably smaller than the last eyelet. Usually I have no space between the facings at the first eyelet and the shoe is still loose in that area.

(2) The shoe has an extremely orthotic fit. I have flat feet and he told me that he would make the shoes with a lot of support. I have not worn my orthotics in years since they prevented me from wearing shoes of finer quality and better style. It seems like he shaped the insoles to act as a shelf to support my arch, and it seems to extend inside the uppers beyond the outsole. A shoe with this kind of support seems to be a perfect compromise between wearing orthotics and having a shoe that looks good.

(3) The workmanship appears to be extremely good. This is my first foray into bespoke shoes so I'm not really a good judge of this in comparison to other bespoke shoes. However, there is no question it is better than Alden and seems to be at least as nice what is on my EG Shannon boots (and probably better). I know that he started over at least once trying to get the shoes perfect.

(4) The shoe is snug all the way around. I usually purchase shoes that have a looser fit. One thing that I have not experienced before is that I feel some light pressure on the top (dorsal) of my big toe nail. It is certainly not uncomfortable, but just different than I have ever had a shoe fit. Perhaps the way this shoe fits is how a shoe should fit. I don't think that I've ever truly found a shoe / last that really fits correctly before. I have not had the chance to discuss the fit with Mr. Myhre yet, but hopefully I will soon. If there are any fit corrections to be made, he will absolutely fix the fit.

[familyman]

Those really are beautiful shoes. I'm in love with the tap and how seamless it is. Let us know how they break in.

[Biff15]

...great boots, braidkid... have to say that i wasn't feeling the whites at first, but the more i see boots like yours and chicken's, the more i'm inspired to get my own pair... keep us posted on the evolution...

[JFposc]

crossposted from the "black laceups" thread-

I just got a pair of Augusta Shell Cordovan black laceups. So far I really like them. Its interesting, there is another thread (shoes that look better with age) where everyone is really geeked over Alden Shell Cordovan, and those type of boots, but this thread doesn't seem into the Alden/White's old school style, preferring more fashion forward stuff.

I like both, and I could see what Chris meant when he said he was looking for an alternative to CDiem. Augusta seems like that, if you can find them on sale, at least.

Posting pics of Augsta's soon

[JFposc]

btw these are the augustas

[JFposc]

pics courtesy of atelier cuz my iphone pictures suck

[familyman]

Those aren't shell cordovan. There's creasing on them that you can't get with shell, it just doesn't act that way.

Pretty cool boots though. I'm not much for fashion boots but those have very nice proportions to them. Nice pickup.

[theetruscan]

Those aren't shell cordovan. There's creasing on them that you can't get with shell, it just doesn't act that way.

Pretty cool boots though. I'm not much for fashion boots but those have very nice proportions to them. Nice pickup.

They are shell. I don't like the squareness of them though.

Are those cheaper than the CCP footwear?

[familyman]

They are shell. I don't like the squareness of them though.

In all the old nasty nearly dead pairs of shells I've seen I've never seen them crease. I know that leather has been extensively distressed but it just looks like it's behaving a lot more like horse hide than shell.

There's always something new to see though. Very interesting.

[amlai]

In all the old nasty nearly dead pairs of shells I've seen I've never seen them crease. I know that leather has been extensively distressed but it just looks like it's behaving a lot more like horse hide than shell.

There's always something new to see though. Very interesting.

I would never have believed it either. I would also have said maybe horsehide... or even shell leather, but not shell cordovan. Heck, I'm still skeptical unless someone can point me to some literature describing it as genuine shell cordovan.

[LeatherSOUL]

Looks like horsehide to me. If that's shell, it probably took a couple horses worth to make that pair. Are those $1000+ boots?

[Calden]

Amlai - Very nice!

JFposc - Those look great. I'd love to know what you think of the Augusta's after a few weeks of wear and what they look like broken in. Keep us posted.

[jskidder]

Looks like horsehide to me. If that's shell, it probably took a couple horses worth to make that pair. Are those $1000+ boots?

the few pairs of augustas i've come across have retailed for over $1000, almost $1500 i think. not sure about the particular pair in question here though.

[Tarmac]

what's next? Painting gold silver?