Club Obi Wan

Well, I'm needing to reheel the Aldens again. I know that I can order heels from Alden, but I'm not into the rest of it, just through the rubber on one side, so it should be well enough to replace just the bottom rubber.

Thing is, I wasn't too happy with the last shoe shop I went to to have them heeled the last time, at a Burlington Coat store. When they were grinding off the excess rubber, they sure scuffed the rest of the sole quite a bit, right in front of the heel, right where it doesn't wear off. So, I decided to find another shoe shop. Unfortunately, in a smaller town these days, there aren't many left.... most folks buy disposables anymore, and just toss them once worn out and buy another pair, instead of keeping their existing ones going. Basically, there's one other shop in town that can do such, an older mom-n-pop place. But, a friend has said that he wouldn't expect them to be better shop (as a matter of fact, he suggested the Burlington shop instead when I first asked him if what he thought of the mom-n-pop shop). So, I suppose I could try to locate another shoe shop in the region (I don't mind driving a bit for good work), or, I could instead figure out the best things to mention when I try the mom-n-pop shop, and see if I can manage to get them to do them right.

Any thoughts on such??


Thanks,


-Leslie

My thought? Bite the bullet and send 'em off to Alden. Just my $.02 worth....

Regards,

Henry Jones, Sr.

If I was needing the whole sole replaced, absolutely no question, they'd go back to Alden.


But, for just replacing the rubber on the bottom of the heel, I would hope that it shouldn't be too hard for a decent shop to get right, maybe with a bit of coaching.... Alas, methinks I may be asking too much....


Out of curiosity, does anyone happen to know what Alden would charge for replacing just the heel rubber? Or, conversely, is there anything resembling an "Alden approved shop" to do the work, thus saving on shipping perhaps? (I.e., it'd be sweet to wait tuk I'm in Knoxville or Roanoke next and have 'em done while I wait instead of paying for shipping....



Oh, also....

I used to have a dickens of a time with my Aldens when I was flying with work... sometimes, I'd about have to take 'em off to ge tthrough the metal detectors, and let them check them manually.... and that was pre-9/11, even.... Anyone else wear their Aldens when flying??


-L

Well....

Tonight I pulled my Aldens out so I could compare them to the newly-arrived Deckers, side-by-side....

.... and discovered.....

.... that the sole stictching at the toe of one of them has given way. The soles aren't badly worn, but this definitely ought to be re-stitched.

Now, there are two ways I see that I can go about this, the cheaper way and the not-as-cheap way....

a) For the time-being, use a dab of shoe-goo, then keep wearing them for awhile longer, until they do need to be resoled.....

or

b) Go ahead and send 'em off to Alden now....


So!

Does anyone know a good contact person at Alden? Anybody in particular I should talk to?


Thanks!

-Leslie

I thought about having my shoes refurbished by Alden but it was just too expensive. Instead I had them resoled with a black Vibram lug sole almost identical to the Jcrew Work Boots. I think they look awesome and kind of enhance the boot feel of these shoes. They look meatier and I like that. And it cost me $50.

No! Wouldn't dare do that to the Aldens.... I'd come far closer having the JCrews resoled to match the Aldens, actually......




lol...


-L