Club Obi Wan

Just returned from San Francisco and learned from the Aldens manager that a new color will be in their store later this year. It is a brown that that looks like the special run shoes that are available from Germany. He will e-mail me when they are in and I'll fly up to check them out.

If its a darker brown, that is a step in the right direction, but for pure screen accuracy, Marc's AB Aldens are the way to go. His research and detail show in his boot, and you can't get one like that anywhere else. Im interested to see how "darker" these are.

Did a little digging, and found somewhat of an annoucement of the 2 new Alden Indy boots coming soon.

http://blog.leffot.com/2009/09/29/three ... -indy-ans/

The one that we will all more then likely want, is now the 403 from Alden. Check them out, they even have an Indy boot in a nicer dark brown and lug sole (not personally a fan of those soles but the colour is very nice). Still, seeing these two new boots, I still personally think that if you want SA details, the AB boots are the way to go.

I think this is why schmidty612's did not get accepted is Alden was already in the works on a new line of Indy boots. The one on the far right looks a lot like what Schmidty's offering. I think it gives people a choice in wanting a darker color and also a sole choice. I like the one on the far right, looks almost like the AB Alden, except different sole, I would say though the AB Alden is the best SA Alden as of right now. Definately worth it. This a great effort by Alden though in offering people other alternatives that are based of the 405. I like.

IndianaChris

I don't know- the AB Aldens seem SA for the temple scene in RAIDERS, but that's about it. Every movie after Raiders, except for CS shows the boots as being the same color as the 403s. Even in Raiders though, after the temple scene is over, it shows the boots as being the same color as the 403s. Sorry, but the AB Aldens are just way too dark for any scene of any of the movies that wasn't the beginning of Raiders.

Kyle

SO GLAD to see this news. was about to order a new pair of aldens in the next few weeks. Going to wait until this is announced. Hopefully they are out before may. Planned to take them on my honeymoon.

knibs7 wrote:I don't know- the AB Aldens seem SA for the temple scene in RAIDERS, but that's about it. Every movie after Raiders, except for CS shows the boots as being the same color as the 403s. Even in Raiders though, after the temple scene is over, it shows the boots as being the same color as the 403s. Sorry, but the AB Aldens are just way too dark for any scene of any of the movies that wasn't the beginning of Raiders.

Kyle

Well being the same color might be, but it is not the same as way the boot is constructed. The AB Alden 405 has different stitching than these new offerings from Alden, except for the one to the far right, look very similar to the AB Alden in color and stitching but I cannot say exact as far as color. There is also many other differences that are slightly different than the current 405. Marc met with the Alden rep and Alden found everything about the 405 that Harrison Ford got back in the 1970s. Sure it does not look to the same later on because the boots were pretty heavily distressed during filming. Sure it look brown after being the desert, dragged by a truck, etc. The 403 is a nice color don't get me wrong, these are great offerings from Alden. IMO I just don't think you can get anymore SA Raiders than the AB Alden. Sure these future offerings from Alden are great shoes, just they are not the boots Harrison Ford ordered more than 30 years ago.

IndianaChris711

I think the JC Aldens were the first step in this direction. It looks like these will be close to the JC with a lower cost too!

Alright, let me clarify my original claim. When I say S.C., I don't mean all of the particulars that are involved in the German shoes. I mean that they are using a brown that is like the brown used in those. For $200 plus less, I'll take these.

Can't say I'm 100% on the leather lining but hey it is what it is...Leather lining is more comfy but it sure does get hot when it's warm outside...Just have to wait and see though...

I've been pretty much able to generate the color of the 403's with my current boots but there is something to the texture of that pair that sets it apart so that is more than likely the pair I will be getting myself...Plus since they are moving these into the standard lineup and doing the upgraded lining I'm sure we are looking at price hike of at least $100 which would put them at say $440 to $450 range...Plus side is the quality control will be better and the material's will be better...

Even in Raiders though, after the temple scene is over, it shows the boots as being the same color as the 403s. Sorry, but the AB Aldens are just way too dark for any scene of any of the movies that wasn't the beginning of Raiders.

Not true at all. He did wear the darker color for the majority of the film but you see them all dusty and dirty which gives them a lighter appearance. He does wear the reddish color in a few scenes as do the stuntmen but the darker boot is the one most worn for all of Raiders. Technically, both are screen accurate but since the brown boot was so elusive, Marc stepped up and gave the die-hard gearheads what they've been wanting for so long.
If Alden does a darker brown color I'm sure they won't go as far as Marc did with sourcing the same old materials. They'll just be new Aldens with a different dye which will still have Marc's at the top of the pile of screen accurate Aldens right next to vintage pairs, which almost never surface.

Well I just got finished speaking with my Alden rep and the price of the 403 model is going to be $378...Not that much of a price hike

sneakertinker wrote:Well I just got finished speaking with my Alden rep and the price of the 403 model is going to be $378...Not that much of a price hike

That is a great price for the 403, I think they will probably start offering these starting next year I would believe. Sneakertinker did you get any info as to when they may be available??

Anyone know what exactly is the difference with the leather lining? It says on the website TheExit provided they will all be leather lined including the 405 it made it seem like.

I wonder if schmidty will be offering these as well.

IndianaChris

From what I was told Chris look for them around the end of January into Feb of next year...

They are all going to be fully leather lined like most of the Leathersoul Hawaii pairs are...So instead of the cotton cloth lining that the 405 has now it will be fully leather...Very comfy but a bit hot in the warm months of the year.

I figured it must be getting rid of the cotton lining, now I am not so sure, I like the cotton for breathability. I guess these could be a great winter boot.

IndianaChris

I don't know if this has been asked before but does the high price tag of 'Marc's AB Aldens" have anything to do with the exchange rate and shipping? I guess what I'm asking is would Alden make the same boot for North American buyers for a considerably cheaper amount. I can't remember how many people Marc needed for an order. Has anyone ever looked into this???

Indy_1971 wrote:I don't know if this has been asked before but does the high price tag of 'Marc's AB Aldens" have anything to do with the exchange rate and shipping? I guess what I'm asking is would Alden make the same boot for North American buyers for a considerably cheaper amount. I can't remember how many people Marc needed for an order. Has anyone ever looked into this???

From what I read on Marc's boots posting, is that in order to fulfill the request for the boots, Marc became an Alden rep in Europe. So since Marc supplies Alden with the order request (12 pairs of boots) they make them for his "shop" and then he sends them out. That's the deal with Alden, same as Alden supplies price point (selling price is for the 405 for that region, not for North America, thats why it seems so high due to exchange) for Marc (again read from Marc's initial thread). So he can't request the boot order and say send it to Steve at AB USA (don't think he much as time for it, or may not want to get into that part of the business) or anyone else because they are not an Alden dealer. All in all, the only way to get Marc's awesome boots are to order them through him, which get shipped by him from Germany. Just hope and pray that when you order, the $ is at a nice rate And once his next run is open, my name will be on there for a pair.

While I love my AB Aldens I think the new 403 might be the model for me. Like I said the new leather lining is warmer but as far as comfort is has the old cloth lining beat. Plus to me it seems like the tongue slipping problem is nowhere near as bad when the boots have a leather lining. At any rate come the first of the year I will have my first pair of 403's to go with all my 405's...

Also here is a little preview of how the Cromexcel Leather of the 403 should look with some wear. This is a pair of Leathersoul's Ultimate Indy's which use the same leather. The only thing that kept me from getting a pair of these was the lack of the cork sole...Seems that problem will be taken care of with the 403...

TheExit148 wrote:

Indy_1971 wrote:I don't know if this has been asked before but does the high price tag of 'Marc's AB Aldens" have anything to do with the exchange rate and shipping? I guess what I'm asking is would Alden make the same boot for North American buyers for a considerably cheaper amount. I can't remember how many people Marc needed for an order. Has anyone ever looked into this???

From what I read on Marc's boots posting, is that in order to fulfill the request for the boots, Marc became an Alden rep in Europe. So since Marc supplies Alden with the order request (12 pairs of boots) they make them for his "shop" and then he sends them out. That's the deal with Alden, same as Alden supplies price point (selling price is for the 405 for that region, not for North America, thats why it seems so high due to exchange) for Marc (again read from Marc's initial thread). So he can't request the boot order and say send it to Steve at AB USA (don't think he much as time for it, or may not want to get into that part of the business) or anyone else because they are not an Alden dealer. All in all, the only way to get Marc's awesome boots are to order them through him, which get shipped by him from Germany. Just hope and pray that when you order, the $ is at a nice rate And once his next run is open, my name will be on there for a pair.

I wonder why? I can't help but think that the order numbers would be huge, if the price were a bit more reasonable for North American buyers. Why couldn't a list of buyers be created on this site and then the order be sent to Alden with a special Obi Wan code (asking for all same specs as Marcs boots)? What would the price be? Why does there have to be a middle man? If everyone had the same code, problem solved.

You have to be an Alden dealer in order to do this as a run, plus I don't think Marc would necessarily want to release his specs to other vendors. The manager at the Alden store in DC did tell me that you; a single person can do a custom run of one pair of boots, but the cost is the $345 US for the boots, plus at least $150 for the custom fee, plus whatever else the cost is for extra details like on Marc's plus shipping. In the end, its probably the same cost to order them from Marc more then likely. It would be nice if we could get someone in North America to help with cost/exchange rate but I don't think its really possible at this time, unless there is someone that Marc trusts enough that is an Alden dealer to supply it.

TheExit148 wrote:You have to be an Alden dealer in order to do this as a run, plus I don't think Marc would necessarily want to release his specs to other vendors.

Wait a second. While I appreciate Marc's efforts in offering a SA Indy boot. The boots patent (specs) belong to "Alden". The boots look may have changed over the years but they are still the creator. I'm just curous what Alden would do if say maybe 50 people made a special order. I wonder if the cost might come down significant amount?

Technically what you are saying is correct, but because the boot is no longer made the way it was back in the 70's/80's Marc had to do his own research, along with research with the Alden rep in order to create his AB boot the way Marc wanted it (which was how it was made in that time period). So Alden considers this a custom run of the 405 model to meet a customer/vendors request. These runs can also be only done in runs of 12 for custom boots for a good price. I think at this point Marc (hopefully) should chime in, in order to clear up why these aren't offered in North America from a North American vendor.

In my "ever-so-humble" opinion, if Alden just used a darker, truer, brown for their 405's the "custom" boot sales would screech to a halt. There's only a handful of fans willing to pay the premium for those "screen-accurate" specs. In reality, it's the color that draws them in, not the leather-lined tongue and so on. Alden makes a premium product regardless of wether it's custom or not. While I am glad that they has given us new offerings, I'm just not sure they needed to add the 403 to their stable. Why not just make 405's in a better brown for the same money and leave it alone? Once again, just my thoughts on the matter. Ain't tryin' to start nuthin'.

Dr._J wrote:In my "ever-so-humble" opinion, if Alden just used a darker, truer, brown for their 405's the "custom" boot sales would screech to a halt. There's only a handful of fans willing to pay the premium for those "screen-accurate" specs. In reality, it's the color that draws them in, not the leather-lined tongue and so on. Alden makes a premium product regardless of wether it's custom or not. While I am glad that they has given us new offerings, I'm just not sure they needed to add the 403 to their stable. Why not just make 405's in a better brown for the same money and leave it alone? Once again, just my thoughts on the matter. Ain't tryin' to start nuthin'.

I agree. If the 405's came in a dark brown, more accurate to what people saw on the screen, the majority of custom orders for the AB boot and even the "Ultimate Indys" from Hawaiin Leather Sole would not be there. A big mistake on Alden, in my opinion, and lost sales.

Ah, PSBIndy, you beat me to it. I was just going to say exactly that. Of course, I'm on the other end of the spectrum. I am very reticent to pay a couple hundred dollars for a pair of boots, but if Alden would just make theirs in the dark brown color, I would do it in a heartbeat. Instead, I went with a less costly option that has the color I like, instead of going for the super-expensive option in the "right" color.

I think that if Alden did offer a darker brown like the AB or Leather Soul Hawaii boots that the majority of people would buy those, but for the purists and the people that like the look of the AB boots as a whole, they will still get Marc's. I personally like the AB boots a lot because of the darker leather, darker welt and stiching, the leather tongue is a nice addition, plus the thicker leather, and minor details not seen are always a plus. Its like buying a new "vintage" boot.

TheExit148 wrote:I personally like the AB boots a lot because of the darker leather, darker welt and stiching, the leather tongue is a nice addition, plus the thicker leather, and minor details not seen are always a plus.

I would love it too, but I can't justify spending $600+ on a pair of boots. No boots are worth that kind of money to me.

It is a lot, and I can agree totally with that. Depending on what your $ priorities are, that has a major impact. When it comes to myself with clothing, my motto is, higher end denim, will spend more on a pair of shoes/boots, and spend more on jackets. Those are the 3 things I will spend more money on, since I wear jeans every single day (same pair usually, jeans never get dirty plus it adds to the character of them), you wear shoes almost all the time throughout the day, and a jacket is just something I can justify spending a lot on. Not everyone is like that, and that is perfectly fine. If you wear the articles all the time, you WILL get your money's worth IMO and thats why I can justify the AB Aldens; because I will wear them all the time (just like the regular 405's that I have).

But at double the cost of a regular pair of Aldens. Can you really justify paying that when all your looking at is basically a different color of leather and matching stiching. Seems a little excesive to me. Its confused me all along as to why Alden just won't make these modifications. The demand is there and it's what everyone wants!

TheExit148 wrote:Did a little digging, and found somewhat of an annoucement of the 2 new Alden Indy boots coming soon.

http://blog.leffot.com/2009/09/29/three ... -indy-ans/

The one that we will all more then likely want, is now the 403 from Alden. Check them out, they even have an Indy boot in a nicer dark brown and lug sole (not personally a fan of those soles but the colour is very nice). Still, seeing these two new boots, I still personally think that if you want SA details, the AB boots are the way to go.

I don't think the 403 has the lugged soles. The 404's seem to be the ones with the lugged soles.

Indy_1971 wrote:But at double the cost of a regular pair of Aldens. Can you really justify paying that when all your looking at is basically a different color of leather and matching stiching. Seems a little excesive to me. Its confused me all along as to why Alden just won't make these modifications. The demand is there and it's what everyone wants!

Thats the beauty of the this hobby; the options available. You can get the regular 405, or the AB 405, or the new 403 and 404 when they come out, or Todd's boots. Many options to fit many price points. I look at it this way; I love Raiders, and all of the gear used in the movie. I wear all the stuff as much as I can (minus the whip, gunbelt, and hat; I wear it but not everyday), so it gets its money's worth, and its pretty much one of my only hobbies. I don't have many financial responsibilities yet either, which helps a lot at this time, so I try and purchase as much as I can at this time so I have it for the future when I won't be able to purchase these types of items.

And _ and A5 are correct, both boots were used in Raiders, so either way the colour is SA. But I do understand the frustrations of people of want the darker leather but don't want to pay the premium price.

But I do understand the frustrations of people of want the darker leather but don't want to pay the premium price.

That's all I'm trying to say.

Dr. J, I totally agree with you

I will just add this last piece, if Marc was based in North America, the price of his boots would probably be the regular $344 USD or slightly more, since the price of his AB boots are 450 euro which is the cost of the regular 405. It all comes down to geographic location (For Alden pricing) and the exchange rate. Any other questions about availability from a North American vendor should probably be discussed with Marc himself, since I'm sure he would be able to provide a lot more information on what he would want to do, or can do with his Alden boot based on his agreement with Alden.

I'm a little confused on this, does this mean that from now on, all 405's and their "offspring" (i.e: 403, 404) will have leather lnings instead of cotton?

Castor Dioscuri wrote:I'm a little confused on this, does this mean that from now on, all 405's and their "offspring" (i.e: 403, 404) will have leather lnings instead of cotton?

Yes...They will all have leather lining's...

So the only difference between the 405 and 403 is the color?

The reds even get their own close-up on the truck accellerator.

Which was also most likely worn by an ILM employee in a pick-up shot filmed at ILM. Would you know if that is correct or was it possibly filmed in Africa in the cab they had made?

I also understand the frustration. My AB boots are some of my most expensive pieces of gear. However, you'd probably pay the same amount or closer for a vintage pair and good luck finding them. Plus, they'd most likely be used and the AB boots were brand new - all mine, with only my feet having touched them. I figured as a die-hard gearhead and Raiders fan that it would be a good investment since they are also functional pieces of gear.

agent5 wrote:

The reds even get their own close-up on the truck accellerator.

Which was also most likely worn by an ILM employee in a pick-up shot filmed at ILM. Would you know if that is correct or was it possibly filmed in Africa in the cab they had made?

I also understand the frustration. My AB boots are some of my most expensive pieces of gear. However, you'd probably pay the same amount or closer for a vintage pair and good luck finding them. Plus, they'd most likely be used and the AB boots were brand new - all mine, with only my feet having touched them. I figured as a die-hard gearhead and Raiders fan that it would be a good investment since they are also functional pieces of gear.

The point is, they are screen accurate. Doesn't matter who wore them or where it was filmed. It's in the movie, hence, it is screen accurate. So if that is what you are after, the reddish Alden's have it. Now, if it is "what Harrison Ford wore on screen" that you are after, then that's a different issue.

I don't think you would find any vintage pair of Alden 405s selling for $700 bucks. The only kind of Aldens that might fetch big money would be screen-used Alden's worn by Ford or stuntmen from the movies. Joe Blow's 30-year-old pair of smelly, worn-out Aldens aren't going to get $700. Maybe if he kept them in the original box, and hardly wore them, some die-hard here would pay that much for them, but I doubt that scenario would ever occur. No one back then knew their Alden work boots were going to become coveted by gear collectors 20-30 years later.

The gear I could have If only I had a time machine...

Between everything else this year, the adventurebilt alden is just out of the question. I like the look of the 403's. I like that treaded pair as well, but won't happen for a long time.

The point is, they are screen accurate. Doesn't matter who wore them or where it was filmed. It's in the movie, hence, it is screen accurate. So if that is what you are after, the reddish Alden's have it. Now, if it is "what Harrison Ford wore on screen" that you are after, then that's a different issue.

I understand that, I was just making a point of mention about the pick-up shots and then asking a question.

agent5 wrote:

The point is, they are screen accurate. Doesn't matter who wore them or where it was filmed. It's in the movie, hence, it is screen accurate. So if that is what you are after, the reddish Alden's have it. Now, if it is "what Harrison Ford wore on screen" that you are after, then that's a different issue.

I understand that, I was just making a point of mention about the pick-up shots and then asking a question.

Gotcha, agent5. I misread what you wrote; my fault.

I'm wondering if Bernie will have them use the 403's for the new movie instead of the 405's. Last time, according to what I read here about an interview with him in "In Style" magazine (I think?) they used the current 405's (I love mine from Schmiddy!) but they painted them with fabric paint since, according to Bernie, they were no longer made in the same color as was used previously. Then, they beat the tar out of them with destressing. The color of the 403's seems a bit like the color they painted the 405's for KotCS. So, just wondering if they might just choose these next time and beat them to smithereans instead of going through the whole painting process of the 405's. I would love to know more about how they did that and what they used. I love the fact that Indy's shoes were so beat up! That way, I don't feel bad when mine get scraped up!

Some interesting choices. It's a shame they couldn't call them all "405" though. "403" sounds like I'd be getting something not quite as good.

sam wrote:I'm wondering if Bernie will have them use the 403's for the new movie instead of the 405's. Last time, according to what I read here about an interview with him in "In Style" magazine (I think?) they used the current 405's (I love mine from Schmiddy!) but they painted them with fabric paint since, according to Bernie, they were no longer made in the same color as was used previously. Then, they beat the tar out of them with destressing. The color of the 403's seems a bit like the color they painted the 405's for KotCS. So, just wondering if they might just choose these next time and beat them to smithereans instead of going through the whole painting process of the 405's. I would love to know more about how they did that and what they used. I love the fact that Indy's shoes were so beat up! That way, I don't feel bad when mine get scraped up!

It was CLASSIC STYLE magaine.

Thanks for the clarification!

Okay whats with the "lugged soles, dark brown thing?" Can you get the color with the normal sole? I mean whats this "Well you can have these colors, but if you want that color you have to have this sole...or if you want this sole you have to have that color." I mean come on...if you have the leather colors, why can't you make all colors for all soles? Is the president of this company completely bonkos?

moviematt1989 wrote: Is the president of this company completely bonkos?

A good question, and one up for much debate these days.....

Regards! Michaelson

It honestly laughable...I mean really Alden, come on...