I’ll start by saying that this is tricky to write up.As mentioned, I was once again extremely fortunate to have received an invite from the Alden representative for the area whom I’d met a couple times previously at the Leffot trunk shows. It seems that my apparent enthusiasm paid off. The group was very small, so I really got to feel like a big shot.First off the place is great. Like going back in time. It reminded me of the flower shop that my father ran with his brothers that I would hang out in as a kid. Everything in there is just old. I think at this point the whole place is 85% patina. Everyone I encountered was very friendly, even the fellow whose parking spot I stole at the advice of the woman who answers the phone.We met at 1pm. While waiting in the “lobby” we met Phil from Ashland leather. I didn’t notice at first but I had just watched him in a video about the various shell colors as I contemplated the Mass Drop Johnny the Fox. Here’s the video.Shortly after that Skip Horween greeted us and we spent a little time in his office and got to hear him opine about the state of Allen Edmonds and how they are doing things under the new ownership versus how Alden just continues to do things the same way. His general opinions seem to revolve around decide what you want to do, don’t try to do or be too much and don’t compromise the quality of your product just to sell more or maintain a price point. I really enjoyed hearing his opinions and he has a way of speaking that keeps you interested.After a bit we were also introduced to Nick Horween and they both escorted us around the various production areas.First we went downstairs. We saw where the hides were initially inspected for major flaws. Actual grading takes place later. I apologize now for not having really specific information. You sort of had to jockey for position to hear the best and I yielded more often than not. Not that it was competitive, I’m just chill. Skip Horween did most of the explaining and fielding questions while Nick spent much of the time chatting with Sean from Leffot who was the most frequent visitor from what I could gather. I just listened to what I could, snapped pictures and was generally bedazzled.Here are some of those fresh cow hides.This area really smelled like a barn bringing back other childhood memories of summers in Wisconsin.We then saw the giant pits of tanning agents.Wide shot.I believe each of these slats has a hide tacked to it.Frothy.Gurgle gurgle.Here are some huge wooden drums for, I believe secondary tanning if I heard correctly. Regardless, impressive.Not sure what this one is for but it was giant. Maybe storing the tanning agent that goes into the pits nearby.This area smelled of the vegetable tanning agents... a little sour.Then we went upstairs for some of the later processes. This tour wasn’t all shell specific and some of these areas could be used for other tannages. Again wish I had the body cam or better yet just a mic on Skip Horween the whole time. I missed so much.Here is where they sand down horse butts to expose the shell.They have at least three of these machines. Apparently this is one of the steps of the process that requires a high degree of skill to perform.Here is some of the waste from that part of the process along with Skip Horween’s hand.Here is some of the dyeing process of the shells.This fellow was applying dye I believe.This gentleman was using a scraper on the shell.Here is a shell after they were done but before it got rolled.Here is the machinery used to roll and further smooth out the shellafter the dyeing.I have a short video of one of the operators working on a piece of shell, but I haven’t figured out how to include it.The roller used is actually glass I believe. Super cool.Here’s one after the rolling.Darn it I accidentally hit post. There will be a part two.Here are two more photos.Edit: found a thought I didn’t complete and an error. Added a link to an Ashland leather video.