Club Obi Wan

Just to let you all know the following.

A friend of mine works for Alden. I was #####' and moanin' as usual about the reddish tone to the 405, and he said it was potentially a thing of the past.

"Too much fan boy rage?", I taunted. Apparently not. The leather supplier for the 405 has gone belly up, it would seem, and Alden's looking to locate alternate resources to supply the leather.

In the interim, he expects the boots will sell down in stock, with some out-of-stock problems, until the new supplier has been contracted and new boots made. Does this mean no more red boots - possibly, although he said the red cast was not seen as undesirable by Alden.

I also checked this out with the Alden store in SFO, and they confirmed pretty much what my friend told me.

--- Obi-Wan and Only

We can only hope the new supplier will lean towards a more traditional dark brown leather. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed as I will be looking into a pair in a few months. Keep us informed of further developments as you become aware of them.

no problemo; I'll post as I get any new info.

-- Obi-Wan and Only

Obi Wan and Only wrote: ...he said the red cast was not seen as undesirable by Alden.

True - from what I can gather, connoisseurs of shoes regard cordovan as the only true Alden color.

schwammy wrote:

Obi Wan and Only wrote: ...he said the red cast was not seen as undesirable by Alden.

True - from what I can gather, connoisseurs of shoes regard cordovan as the only true Alden color.

I guess there's just no accounting for taste

This is nice to know. Thanks! Could you also ask your friend if they are going to fix the cut of the boot as well so that the sides come closer together around the ankle? If you take a newer 405 and lace them up comfortably you'll notice at least an inch or more of space between the laces. You can tell in pics from the films and from anyone who owns an older pair that the leather on the sides would almost touch when laced up. So, over time the leather has been trimmed off in the ankle area. This may even stop the infamous 'lip-slip' and would definitely help ease the stress of trying to get the laces to lace all the way up to the top. I know this has been brought up before to Alden's owner but nothing ever came of it. I'd really like to see a faithful recreation of the original boot in the old brown myself and have the cut restored as well. Who would want a reddish shoe insead of brown ones? Brown would just go with alot more than the reddish hue. Perhaps resulting in more sales. If they do make any changes at all I'm sure they'd see an Indygear spike immediately. $:D $

I suppose I could ask, although he is not in their design department and I dunno how much contact or influence he has there.

Will post here what, if anything, comes of it.

Are there some pics you or others could send me since I would probably want to send them to him to better describe what we're talking about?

Thanks.

-- Obi-Wan and Only

The color boot we want is on the left. This was the old style brown that was discontinued.


Photo courtesy of Rundquist.

-Sergei

dang..... I think I dyed my aldens too dark.

oh well. anyway to lighten it up. I don't think so, but it doesn't hurt to ask. well, I do hope they will change back to the original leather color.

Sergei,

The photo is good for colour - do you have that photo of the old style from a front or top angle so I can document the lacing strip profile?

Thanks.

-- Obi-Wan and Only

Obi Wan and Only wrote:Sergei,

The photo is good for colour - do you have that photo of the old style from a front or top angle so I can document the lacing strip profile?

Thanks.

-- Obi-Wan and Only

LIke this:

Photo courtesy of Rundquist.

Yes, just like that!

I'll see what he says and post it once I hear back.

Thanks for the pics.

-- Obi-Wan and Only

I see a difference in the cuts already!

Wow! The difference in the two is like night and day. I recently inquired about ordering the 405's in the dark brown recently and was told by Allen in SF that there would be an additional $100 charge and 12+ week wait for them.
I think I'll just sit tight and see what comes of the supplier change.

The wait is until their new supplier is online and new production has started, most likely.

The extra $100 bucks is because you didn't say "pretty please"!

-- Obi-Wan and Only

hmmm
So an extra $100 to get the darker brown aldens, and
it will take 12 weeks.

to me its tempting. Did they say what type of dark brown?
similar to Sergei's? hope so.

Sergei,

It appears the soles of your brown Alden's are all leather, as opposed to the leather/synthetic sole they have now on the redtones.

Is that the case? Are there other visible differences as well?

-- Obi-wan and Only

Nope, the soles have always been the slick, neoprene material.

BTW, the shoes pictured above are from Rundquist's collection. You can tell by them sitting on top of all the Optimo hat boxes. No one else has that many Optimo boxes. Trust me. )

The left boot is "old" stock that he bought from Fritz at Sherman Oaks, the one in the middle is the current version and the one on the far right is the Alden 86 in black.

Sadly my boot collection is all from the current stock. I missed the opportunity last year, to get the same brown ones, but I happened to be low on funds and that would have been my 4th pair. It was hard to justify, but looking back... Well you know the rest of the story. Lesson learned.

-Sergei

No one else has that many Optimo boxes. Trust me.

I beg to differ on that one, but at the rate he's going, probably not for long. When I was in Optimo ordering my Toht fedora there was a guy and his girlfriend in the store who were picking up about 9 fedoras. Nine. They had to go out to the car and then come back in to get the rest. Don't know if they were all for him or not but it was alot of money walking out the door. I don't think Rundquist has that many yet but give him a few days. I know he's a prefered customer.

CEEJAY928 wrote:hmmm
So an extra $100 to get the darker brown aldens, and
it will take 12 weeks.

to me its tempting. Did they say what type of dark brown?
similar to Sergei's? hope so.

I chose not to pursue it any further right now since I just ordered a new Wested Raiders jacket last week. But if I remember correctly they'll make 'em any color you want if you're willing to fork over the extra $100 and wait. You might try calling or e-mailing the store in SF and see what they're willing to do for you. There response to e-mail was very fast (same day). Me, I'm going to bide my time and see what the new supplier comes up with. Good luck.

I'm not bashing Alden b/c I've never even seen a pair in real life. But, from the sales side, this sounds like their forcing the consumer's hand to pay more money.

Honestly, are there really that many more people (other than Gearheads)who are buying the 405 boot? I mean, let's be real---you're not an Indy fan and you walk into the Alden store because the doctor says you need some orthopaedic footwear and you say, "Gee! I love the color of that pumpkin orange boot right there! It will go with just about everything in my wardrobe!" I don't think you would. IMHO, it just gives the salesperson an opportunity to up-sale----"Yes, you can have that boot in any color you want but it's an additional $100."

I trust y'all Alden owners when you rant and rave about the old style boot. For me the color is important. Call me cheap but I just don't want to pay the extra $100. They should make the 405 in dark brown, period. I honestly would save up my money and buy a pair if I knew I could get the color I want, off the rack, without having to pay additional money or mess with the post-purchase dyeing process.

You know, I got a pair of Aldens in size 10 from the San Fransisco shop (by mail) about two years ago (I think this summer, actually, it will be three).

They absolutely had the pumpkin color and looked like the boot in the middle of Rundquist's photo; but after about six months (really no more) of wearing them and hitting them with the Pecards, they look exactly like the brown ones, on the left. they're even darker now. of course, I don't

And my sides actually touch - in fact, if I'm not careful, they'll overlap at the top (this does not stop the tongue slippage issue, by the way).

maybe I got a pair of old stock?

if you'd like to see them, my band's website has a bunch of photos of me and the Aldens are the only shoes I wear, so they were bound to show up in a few photos (and forgive the absurdity of some of these photos, but I'm too lazy to take new ones):

http://www.thegoreflex.com/images/BGoReflex6.jpg
http://www.thegoreflex.com/images/BGoReflex.jpg
http://www.thegoreflex.com/images/BBob6.jpg

I have to admit that my Aldens are getting a little beat, after almost three years of wearing nothing but those shoes...I've had them resoled three times (once the whole sole, the other two times just the heels) and they're ready for their fourth. so I've been thinking about getting a new pair of Aldens, but of course, I'm nervous now...so when exactly does everyone say this mutation in color occurred? did I get a pair of old stock? or do they just turn the appropriate color with age + wear?

Can anyone confirm that the dye job Alden will do even matches the old brown color? If not, then is the $100 really worth it when you have kind souls here at Indygear to show you how to do it yourself for a fraction of the cost? The only drawback to the do-it-yourself dye job is the white stitching turn brown too. I'm sure they'd dye the leather first and then put the boot together.

Agent 5,

Why are you worried about the white stitching being dyed as well? The original boots in Raiders were brown, I don't see white stitching at all.

IMHO, I like the red color, and I hope it stays.

Fans here believe that Alden will cater to our needs and wants, and I guarantee you, they will not.

Sincerest Regards,

Dan

dan- the threads in raiders were white. you can really see it in the opening sequence when indy is walking on the bricks in the temple scene. BUT... there is a picture floating around where indy is in the truck and the aldens are the pumpkin color. whatever... i don't like the pumpkin color, but to each his own, right?

FYI with regard to the white stitching, I dyed my Aldens with Fiebing's dye last year, and while it did darken the threads, over time the BIG white threads that go around the top of the foot don't stay dyed brown. The smaller threads on the rest of the boot remain brown, but the large, higihly visible white stitching is soon passably white again. Not sure why, but it might be that the thread is synthetic and doesn't absorb dye very well.

IMHO it looks rather ghetto when the shoes are dyed and the stitches are covered. It's like a half ### job to me. I think the reason you may not see the stitches on the original boots is because of the distressing or the dust they were constantly covered in. Although, as mentioned above, you can see the stitches in certain scenes.

indy_guitarist wrote:the threads in raiders were white. you can really see it in the opening sequence when indy is walking on the bricks in the temple scene.

You also see them in LC when Indy is doing the Breath of God challenge. I like the white threads in the Aldens.

Actually my browns are also an "in-between" color. MK posted pics of the real deal a few weeks ago. Cheers

I've come to really love the color of my 405's. When I first pulled them out of the box they were the orange color pictured above. I've had my pair a year now and they are a gorgeous dark redish brown. You'd never know they were once orange in color. Looking at the "more accurate" brown above I think it looks kind of, for lack of a better term, boring compared to my red/brown boots. To each their own.

What's that Alden shoe ad underneath, Rundquist?

Yeah.... after much wear, my aldens has a dark reddish brown to it.

I would like to post pics.... though, does anyone know of a free site, where I can upload my pics (so I can post them up here, I've tried yahoo, and that didn't seem to work)

CJ

Pyroxene wrote:What's that Alden shoe ad underneath, Rundquist?

These are picks that MK took at a trunk show. The rep happened to have a pair from 1975. Its just some press for Alden I guess.

The_Edge wrote:I've come to really love the color of my 405's. When I first pulled them out of the box they were the orange color pictured above. I've had my pair a year now and they are a gorgeous dark redish brown. You'd never know they were once orange in color. Looking at the "more accurate" brown above I think it looks kind of, for lack of a better term, boring compared to my red/brown boots. To each their own.

The details part of me wants the brown, but the rational side of me tells me that the orange (and the red red ones [the so called "clown shoes"] look better.) The new pair are the ones that get noticed when I wear them and I mean that in a good way. Cheers