Vintage Alden from the 80s is better than anything Alden makes today
Have my uncles Aldens from 1989 sitting next to a pair I bought new three years ago. Same model same size same shell cordovan in theory. They are not the same shoe. The older pair has thicker shell the grain ripples deeper when you flex it, the leather lining is heavier, the stiching tighter.Even the box was nicer back then.I know people are going to argue Horweens process hasnt changed and Alden hasnt cut corners and Im being nostalgic but I have them in my hands and the difference is obvious.
The bean counters came for Alden somewhere in the 2010s and most people dont want to admit it because they just dropped $800 on a new pair. Finding the vintage ones is its own war though. I lost the same listing in 9D maybe five times before I actually landed a pair, the clean ones on ebay get bought within an hour of being listed.Curios if anyone here has done a real side by side or if Im crazy. What year did you notice the quality shift in your favorite shoe brand.