Club Obi Wan

I'm going to a wedding this weekend am planning on wearing my AB Aldens for the first time...The weather is looking like there might be a chance for some rain so I pulled the afformentioned boots out to put a coat of pecards on them so they stay nice and dry...

I figured while I had them out I should just snap a picture of my 3 pairs to show the contrast in color and quality as some have said that the more recent pairs are of very poor quality...

First off the pictures were taken after I had already applied a coat of pecards to the AB Aldens so they darkened down a bit...

Here is the pics...

No Flash...


Flash on...


Close up...


The oldest pair of the bunch is on the far right...They have had nothing done to them aside from a coat of Johnston & Murphey Natural Shoe Cream back when I first got them...They were worn every day for about 3 months for every activity I can think of from hiking in the surrounding desert and forest's to social gatherings to formal events...I'm not planning on treating them with anything simply because I'm really interested to find out how much hard wear a pair of Aldens can take before they give up...These are a year old and I'm assuming older stock as when I ordered them from the Alden store in San Francisco the salesman said they had been in the back for some time...Quality is amazing and I have no complaints...

The second oldest pair is the pair that I'm actually wearing today and in the pics...I darkened them down A TON using pecards when I first got them but through wearing them I find that after time the pecards wears off and the original color comes back through...I'm sure after a whole bunch of coats of pecards they will stay dark but really how often do you need to place the stuff on the boots...Maybe 2-3 times a year...Maybe in a few years they will be as dark as the SA boots look to be...I ordered this pair through Schmidty back in April and have worn them maybe a couple dozen times...I have put no type of punishment on this pair, at least in terms of my first pair, and I notice that the speed lace hooks on both boots are starting to pull away from the leather...As far as that goes it's really my only complaint as far as quality is concerned...They seem to be pretty close to my first pair in every other way though...

Then of course there is my AB pair...I've yet to wear them as I said above that I'm saving them for a wedding this weekend...I put the pecards on them today just to seal any water out of them in case it starts raining while I'm out and about...No wear yet...

So there they are...I ordered a pair custom through the Alden Shop in San Francisco and they should be here around April or May...I got them in the Burnished Tan Calf Skin upper because I was actually one of the few people who liked the pumpkin color that Alden had a few years ago...When they come in I will post up an update on all of my pairs just to see how things are going...

very nice review and summary sir

i can't help but notice that those AB aldens are too dark.....probably because of the pecard. from what i've seen of the AB's though, they look very close to the shade of my AF64's from carmel.......which is why i did not place an order. i think if we turned the darkness down just a notch and get more of a warmer brown hue, it would look perfect in my eyes.

i have tan suede 405's, AF64's from carmel, and a pair of OTR boots from the san francisco store.......out of them all, i like my reddish, bricky boots the best. though not SA in colour to my eyes, they just fit the best and are the most comfy. i could see my other boots getting there....but they don't have to just yet.

(btw.....my second favourite is todd's boots )

(btw.....my second favourite is todd's boots )

That's encouraging to hear G, as Santa will be bringing mine in a few weeks!

Is it just me or do the AB Aldens look too dark? I mean, I still think they look really good, but I don't remember them being that dark in any of the films. MAYBE in the temple scene of Raiders...

Nibs

Very nice review - good pics as well...

knibs7 wrote:Is it just me or do the AB Aldens look too dark? I mean, I still think they look really good, but I don't remember them being that dark in any of the films. MAYBE in the temple scene of Raiders...

Nibs

YOU ARE ENTIRELY AND ABSOLUTELY WRONG KNIBS!!!!!


(in the fact that you think it's just you) ;-)

Indiana G wrote:

knibs7 wrote:Is it just me or do the AB Aldens look too dark? I mean, I still think they look really good, but I don't remember them being that dark in any of the films. MAYBE in the temple scene of Raiders...

Nibs

YOU ARE ENTIRELY AND ABSOLUTELY WRONG KNIBS!!!!!


(in the fact that you think it's just you) ;-)

Haha ok, Thanks for backing me up. Glad to know I am not the ONLY one that thinks this

Nibs

Nice little review there and nice pics of the different boots. The pair that I bought from Schmidty a while back looks very similar to your pair that is showing more wear. But I have seriously put those boots through a lot of wear inducing activities. I wear them constantly and have been out in the woods with them quite a bit and they are scuffed up. But holding together just fine. I have had no problems with anything. And now that they are well broken in they are super comfortable. I love wearing them.

I have heard some folks become upset that their expensive Aldens get scuffed easily. Well here is a newsflash folks - these boots are made of leather. Leather will get scuffed up when rubbed on any kind of mildly abrasive surface. They may be Aldens but leather of ANY quality does have it's limitations. I just use a bit of Pecards on them now and then and the scuffs just magically disappear.

BTW - a bit offtopic but I have found that Pecards works the best for waterproofing leather. My boots have never leaked. Well except a couple times when I stepped in water that was over the tongue stitching, but nothing I can do about that.