Seeing how Seattle might skip summer altogether this year, it was very timely that these boots just showed up. Made on the Plaza last in dark brown suede, they’re probably the nicest custom job that I’ve seen from Alden yet. More pictures at leathersoulhawaii.com.
A future version that I’d like to have would be the same model in a light brown or tan scotch grain leather. A pair of dress chukka boots made on the Plaza last in the same chocolate suede would be nice as well.
I wear Indy boots frequently and the pair I’ve owned is a special makeup for Leather Soul that features full leather linings and commando soles – they’ve now seen about two years worth of wear. They’ve traveled to several different continents, saved my feet quite a few times, and have only needed to be repaired once (my heel got caught in a piece of machinery that nearly pulled the entire sole off – thankfully the goodyear welt made it easy to fix). Because I depend on and wear them so much, I decided to order another pair to rotate between them.
Nick Horween put up a fascinating post today about the production of chromexcel leather, which is used on some of my more favorite pairs of Alden’s (I’m wearing a pair of Indy boots made from it right now in fact).
Chromexcel, or CXL as it’s written in the building, is a combination tanned leather that undergoes at least 89 separate processes taking 28 working days and utilizing all 5 floors of our facility. Needless to say, it’s complicated. For any tannery, the chemistry that transforms salted or cured hides into leather often requires a degree of “cooking.” By cooking I mean there are slight variations that must be managed and corrected from lot to lot.
Continue reading more.
I just received these today. They are indeed on the Barrie last (so go down half a size) and they’re a couple shades darker than the stock photo on J.Crew’s website. J.Crew also describes them as waxy, but the leather is more soft than oily.
I also hear that a suede version might be in the works? Hmm…
J.Crew has begun to update its website with new items for February, and local stores should be receiving goods in now. In addition to several great looking shirts, ties, and shorts, there are also shoes and boots from Alden, denim from Levi’s, classic Persol sunglasses, and a number of other accessories. The men’s catalog for February is online for viewing too.
Brooks Brothers sent out a mailer today pointing to a new section on their site for information on their shoes, Peal and Co, and a flash diagram showing the basic anatomy of an Alden shell cordovan shoe. If you’re still unfamiliar with basic terminology and shoe care, it’s a good page to check out.
Continue reading more.
Related posts:
Breaking them out for New Years!
An early Christmas gift… for myself. :)
This particular Alden branded wallet is made from shell cordovan and is big enough to hold about 2-3 dollars in change. I’m usually fumbling around my pockets for change when I’m picking stuff up at the market, and hopefully this will help. They’re available at Blackbird, along with a few other accessories.
For no particular good reason, I tend to only wear my black shoes during the colder months.
Alden chukkas and bluchers on the Plaza last.
Conveniently, Blackbird has just posted some new black Alden boots on their site a few minutes ago, which are a better made version of the plain #306 stock model. It’s too bad they did not order any in my size. ;_;
Update: Two more styles are now available as well.
I just spotted these at Brown’s.
Nice! It’s too bad the cost on Alden’s overseas is exorbitant though.
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