Most shoemakers have the information about the shoe on the lining, from size, to style name or number, to last and production date. But except size, model name and last, other information is impossible for consumers to interpret. Even if the model has a name, many of them are not written and only a code is there. This code is actually used by the factory to correspond to the brand and model, and they did not think to show it to consumers. Today, let’s take a look at a brand that likes to use numbers, Alden.
Alden’s code contains a lot of information and is very complex, study carefully!
Let’s start with an example.
On the far left, US6, everyone knows it is the size, in the lower right of 6, upper C and lower E, is width information. The default width in the US is the upper B and the lower D.
Then we immediately went into the deep water, which was a long line of numbers above.
The first is 3F in front of the slash.
3 is the last digit of the year of manufacture, so the shoe may have been produced in 2013, 2003, 1993 or 1983.
F is the month of production, which corresponds to June.
A is January, B February, C March, D April, E May, F June, G July, H August, I is skipped, J September, K October, L November and M December.
So from 3F you can read that the shoes were produced in June 2013, or June 1993.
The number after the slash is the order number, which is the information of which distributor or brand (if it is a joint brand) placed the first few orders. The breadth of this information is simply too vast to talk about.
Regarding the last number in the first row, I have seen a statement about the number of this style and size in this batch of orders. So the boutique ordered five pairs in that order.
Then we enter the lower row, this number, for Alden lovers, is equivalent to saying the name of the style, and not only, but also directly designating the leather.
There are also two kinds of style number, one is the official core style number, mainly 3 digits, the other is the make up of each dealership, which is much longer, and then the letters and numbers are mixed, each with its own meaning.
For example, this pair of 663, the middle 6 represents the tassel loafer, and the last number is color and leather. 3 is burgundy cowhide.
0 is black cowhide, 4 is black shell cordovan, and 6 is mocha suede.
Why does the middle 6 represent tassel loafers? Because of the same style, there are 561 and 563, and although the last place of 563 is 3, it represents No. 8 color shell cordovan, so it is also quite interesting.
The first example in the picture, 2076, is a short wing derby, 6 is color 8 shell cordovan, and the other models I can find are 2077, black shell cordovan. But which core three-digit model comes from, as a non-Alden fan, I don’t know.
Makeups of each dealer are so rich, and let us see an example on the Internet.
D7507F.
The first letter D, indicating the country for which the style was developed.
A, All Asian regions except Japan, D is USA, G Canada, M Europe and N Japan.
So this pair is from an American dealer.
The first number, 7, is the year this style was developed. May 2017, 2007, 1997 and so on.
The second number, 5, is the style.
1 tassel loafer, 2 all other loafers, 3 oxford, 4 plain toe derby, 5 cap toe or wingtip derby, 6 other derby such as split toe, 7 chukka boots, 8 plain toe, cap toe or wingtip boots, 9 split toe boots.
So this pair is a derby, but it’s not clear whether it’s a cap toe or a wingtip.
The last two digits, 07, were Alden’s seventh shoe developed that year for the U.S. market. I think these two numbers are the least meaningful.
The last letter, F, is the sole information.
C Commando rubber sole, D studded rubber sole, F single layer leather sole, H leather sole plus a layer of rubber outsole.
So this pair is single leather sole.
With this rule, you can go back and interpret your own Aldens.