Shoes that look better with age...

[demonator]

anyone with white's use an insole for comfort?

after standing on concrete all day, my feet definitely feel it. even with the vibram composition sole and an anti-fatigue mat it's still pretty savage. not that i could fit much of an insole in my boots anyway, the fit doesn't really allow for one.

how old are your boots? mine usually feels like that when new around 5 months of wear? when they reach around more than that and after your first resole. thats when youll love your boots really yours bounty hunter / semi dress? or smoke jumper last?

[amlai]

Well, I guess I've found the limits of a pair of Alden shoes. My favorite pair of Plaza-lasted cigar shell captoe shoes were in desperate need of refurbishment. I sent them back to Alden and sadly, today I received the bad news that when they attempted to refurbish them, they fell apart due to the condition they were in. I started wearing them around August of 2007 and had them refurbished once before. I'm guessing I wore these shoes an average of every 2-3 days for almost the last 5 years. The recently developed a crack in the leather right along the cap, so I'm assuming that's where they blew apart when they tried to re-last them.

Here's a picture of them from right before I sent them for refurbishment:

Alden unfortunately was unable to provide me with an exact replacement as it was a custom makeup by Alden New York, but is doing me a solid by selling me a replacement #8 pair on the Aberdeen last that they have in stock at their wholesale price. I've got an exact replacement pair on order with Alden New York, but last I heard it could be a couple of years before the order gets fulfilled.

[mikedbt5]

Sale on at a fine pair of shoes , some good bargains to be had . I purchased some Alfred Sargent Montrose from them a while back , excellent service .

http://www.afinepair.../sale-price-asc

Edited June 22, 2012 by mikedbt5

[demonator]

try sending it to brass in japan or shoot jun-san an email he might be able to help

[demonator]

try sending it to brass in japan or shoot jun-san an email he might be able to help

[garden gnomes in space]

5 years seems like an awfully short time for a pair of shoes to fall apart. I guess it depends on how you treat them and all but still, anyone else find that abnormal?

[rkusmant]

I think alden should man up and offer refurb service price instead of wholesale price.

Anyway what's the wholesale price? Lower than refurb service?

[fre-co]

amlai sorry to hear about your loss.

Welcome back, please keep posting in this thread.

[CrashTestBrummie]

Ok, following on from today’s visit to Richard Smith, here’s my proposed design for the MTO Alfred Sargent Kelso boot. If there’s enough interest, I’ll set up another order for the same boot but on a different spec and run them side-by-side.

Hopefully the info below is comprehensive enough to pre-empt most questions and avoid shitting up the thread.

If you're interested, drop me a line as soon as possible as I'm planning on placing the order as soon as I have five more confirmed participants and a spec agreed by all.

In short, I’m looking for a decent shit weather boot which has a little class:

Pattern: Kelso pattern (see below) which is a mock cap veldtschoen derby boot with nine pairs of eyelets and a half-bellows tongue. An option would be to have a plain toe to make the boot look a little more like the C&J Snowdon (below). If the pattern allows, I'd be after an integral leather pull tab like the Snowdon, too.

Last: The 7WK last (see below). According to Alfred Sargent, the Kelso pattern can be used on three lasts: the standard 88 last, which is a fairly blobby last; the 77 last, used on the Dumfries boot and which has a high instep; and the 7WK which is robust yet slightly more streamlined than the other two.

Sizing advice: It’s recommended that you size down half a size from your UK size for the 7WK last. I’m going TTS however, as I could use a little space around my little toes (as I’ve found out to my cost with the Skye boot…).

Leather: Lower parts of the boot in shell cordovan and the boot leg in espresso scotch grain as the cost of a full shell MTO would have been prohibitive. For the shell, my preference would be cognac if available, whiskey if not. For a side-by-side view of whiskey shell and scotch grain, see below. For an idea of how the tones of cognac shell and scotch grain would work, see Leffot's Galway boot. (If I run a second order then it’ll be in #8 shell.)

Eyelets: Top five pairs with speed hooks, nothing fancy with the lower pairs – like the Snowdon.

Sole: Dainite Ridgeway sole (below) in brown – much better suited to poor weather than commando or studded Dainite.

Lead time: At least ten weeks and possibly significantly more (although group MTOs take less time than single orders). According to Richard, Alfred Sargent currently have more orders than they have production capacity (very much like Crockett & Jones) and so it may well be more like 16 or so weeks.

Cost: Work on a guide price of £550, minus 20% VAT for non-EU orders, and to be confirmed once Sargent have seen the exact spec. Once the price is set in stone, a non-refundable deposit of £100 is required. Richard is happy for people to make payments in instalments during the wait time, which would be handled by him personally.

Point of contact: Me, for all non-payment queries, so that Richard isn’t swamped from all sides. As soon as we have six confirmed people we’ll take this conversation offline and try and contain our excitement…

Kelso pattern:

Snowdon (plain toe and integral leather pull tab):

7WK last:

Whiskey shell/scotch grain combo:

Dainite Ridgeway sole:

[CrashTestBrummie]

Naturally, after all that waffle we need some shoe porn:

And the man himself:

[garden gnomes in space]

Break in has been butter with the CXL leather. The arch took some getting used to, but other than that, very comfortable and very well made boots.

[mothball]

Break in has been butter with the CXL leather. The arch took some getting used to, but other than that, very comfortable and very well made boots.

Those are White's? They look a little sleeker to me than normal, but it could be the angle (or it could just be me). The pants are great, too.

[lucaas]

so three friends of mine did MTO at Sagara Indonesia.

And these are the output...

using Horsebutt Chromexcel Black, Dark Brown, & Tan.

Goodyear Welt

Vibram Rubber Sole

Edited June 29, 2012 by lucaas

[PeterParker]

Break in has been butter with the CXL leather. The arch took some getting used to, but other than that, very comfortable and very well made boots.

My experiences with CXL are that it is very supple and comfortable from the start. It is also not a particularly thick leather, so break in time is minimal.

On the other hand, the Distressed Smooth leather was quite thick and rigid. My ankles were aching the first week; it didn't help that one of the speedhooks protruded quite a bit, digging into my ankles. Solved that problem with a hammer and a punch.

And while the Obenauf's experiment didn't produce desirable cosmetic results, it worked wonders for the comfort of the boots. That and they repel water quite nicely now.

I have adjusted to the arch and indeed they are very comfortable. I still can't believe I didn't get my feet into a pair of White's sooner.

Those are White's? They look a little sleeker to me than normal, but it could be the angle (or it could just be me). The pants are great, too.

Beauty of the semidress last: they can look really slick in a Semidress with a close trim and leather sole, or rather rugged in a Bounty Hunter with a Vibram sole. For me, they fill the void of a robust work boot when Alden shell boots are too dressy, while still looking pretty classy.

[Bibil]

so three friends of mine did MTO at Sagara Indonesia.

And these are the output...

using Horsebutt Chromexcel Black, Dark Brown, & Tan.

Goodyear Welt

Vibram Rubber Sole

These are beautiful.

Were your friends happy with the quality? How was the fit?

[demonator]

[Roguls]

These are going up in the supermarket.

[onehundy]

size?

[demonator]

looks like a 11 or a 12 to me

[heinrich BCN]

These are going up in the supermarket.

what size are those???

[amlai]

5 years seems like an awfully short time for a pair of shoes to fall apart. I guess it depends on how you treat them and all but still, anyone else find that abnormal?

I did care for them pretty well (in terms of maintenance), but I also really wore them a lot. I wore them in every kind of weather. I think after I got them thoroughly soaked in some rain, the leather in that one spot got really brittle. I think I got very good use of of them and I really don't feel like they fell apart faster than they should. My other Aldens of about the same age are still holding strong, though I haven't been wearing them quite as much.

amlai sorry to hear about your loss.

Welcome back, please keep posting in this thread.

Thanks. I know it's been a while.

Edited June 30, 2012 by amlai

[amlai]

Here's the replacement pair that I just got:

[PeterParker]

Family portrait

[garden gnomes in space]

dude, I still cant rep with this fucked up forum update, but that family pic is nice. what color is the middle Indy boot?

[amlai]

Cigar.

[CrashTestBrummie]

more old boots...and in larger sizes than usual. these certainly exceeded expectations after a good few hours spent cleaning them up then feeding the leather.

seriously, is there any point in buying new boots when you can find stuff like these pairs?

cc41 stamp inside

[CrashTestBrummie]

the non-lotus boots above aren't zug, but made of 'beva leather'. i'm assuming that the beaver on the flip-side of the pull tab is a clue to the pronunciation of 'beva' and not an indication of its origins...

beva leather was tanned by william paul ltd on the kirkstall road in leeds, oddly enough very close to an old rugby club where i used to train. photo from leodis.net, linked above.

the boots are identical in style to this pair in the london college of fashion's archives. their beva leather is described as being 'chrome leather'.

and lastly, an old pair of tricker's of unknown style or age, although the staff at the shoehealer reckoned 50 years old "and then some". resoled by them with a dainite ridgeway sole, which they managed to accomplish without the boots falling apart on them...

[ranonranonarat]

just to throw in another image for more english footwear.

these originally belonged to slab whom then sold them to someone, who then sold these to me. they are my go to boots.

[kansas]

great couple of posts. what's the 94% on the ridgeway?

great looking boots ranon.

[Paul T]

Fabulous boots, guys. Ben, I cannot believe those Tricker's!

I bought these thinking some SuFu-ers would snatch 'em out my hands, couldn't bear to let them go unwanted. Check 'em out in the Supermarket, along with lots of LVC. Does the price seem right?