New close enough boots from J Crew

[Mark Brody]

I stopped by J Crew today, and my wife spotted these. I was already wearing my boots from Todd Coyle, but I tried these on anyway. They were incredibly comfortable! Don't get me wrong, Todd's boots are accurate and well made, but considering how much more comfortable these were, I'd gladly overlook the few minor discrepancies in favor of the J Crew boots. At $200 on sale, the last pair was mine. I looked them up online later, and found that J Crew is also selling the Alden Indy boots (which I have no experience with).

https://www.jcrew.com/mens_category/sho ... /B2768.jsp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Cajunkraut]

Wow!

If you hadn't let the cat outa the bag, I'd have sworn that they were just another Alden special run.

[trancoss]

The j crew Aldens are the same as the regular Aldens, just 200$ more expensive

[MARQ]

Great Boots!!

[Gorak]

That's funny, I just saw these at Jcrew too in San Antonio and even thru the window, I thought they were their Alden Indy's. Even up closer until I saw the tag.
I have a pair of JCrew Suede Indy boots. They are dead on the regular Alden's in terms of fit, quality, style, weight, and design. Except that, in suede, they seem to be a tad "trendier" as my wife and plenty of "cool" kids give me lots of compliments on them.

[Cajunkraut]

The j crew Aldens are the same as the regular Aldens, just 200$ more expensive

Well, sorta.

The J Crew Alden Indy boots (their "405" in Chromexcel) have heel stitching versus horizontal stitching (the only way I'm able to tell the difference, anyway).

Mark's boots appear to be an almost identical to the real thing Alden knockoff.

[Indiana Greg]

Thanks!

I had not purchased a pair of boots in months. Those look great! I got the suede just to mix it up some.
When it gets here I can tell the wife "at least it's not another hat, honey."

[Texan Scott]

can anyone speak to the fit of these boots? Are they wide? Did you order and receive your true size?

[Illinois James]

Tex, the suede ones fit pretty true to size, but not as roomy as 405's. Mainly, they're narrower. Not formed on a work boot last, I guess. More like a dress shoe last. Good for thin socks and no insoles or orthotics (IMO). I'm not a fan of the 360 degree welt, but they look nice and at 2 pair of suede for about $240, I jumped on the sale.

These things are made in China, but the suede looks pretty good. I haven't seen the regular leather used on the boot pictured here, but, I'd never pay the $270 they're asking for these at full price. But they appear to have sold well, because they're a great clone, I guess.

Alden's were about the same price, what, ten years ago? These things are a shadow of an Alden boot. But..

They have a couple things very right with these:

The eyelets are flawlessly installed and have a larger backside grommet surface and look very nice inside and out. I've had 405's that have burrs on the inside of their eyelets that have destroyed a few pair of laces before I was able to find and ream out the sharp spots.

They laces seem like they have some poly in them and they seem indestructible. I'd like to buy a bunch of them in bulk.

I won't buy the regular version unless they're very deeply discounted. I may try the Thursday version, though. My curiosity is so costly sometimes....

[Indiana Greg]

can anyone speak to the fit of these boots? Are they wide? Did you order and receive your true size?

I just got mine & would report the fit as spot-on, true to size.