Just Landed: Alden x Blackbird
Local men’s store teams up with heritage boot makers in New England to make Seattle-centric footwear.
Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Sep 09, 2011 at 07:00AM
1 Comments
Slideshow: History by way of Blackbird. Here, Alden boots inspired by a ’30s-era creamery on Market Street, around the corner from where Blackbird sits today.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Note the sign for Christopherson’s Creamery, the inspiration for Blackbird’s new boots, in this 1939 photo of Market Street in Ballard.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Hayburner oxfords are named for the horses who pulled Frank Osgood’s streetcars. See the timeline below, courtesy Blackbird historians:
1884 – Frank Osgood, widely known as the father of Seattle’s public-transportation system, begins operating a horse-drawn trolley on Sept. 23. Passengers pay a nickel for a trip along steel tracks, laid in the mud of Second Avenue.
1887 – Osgood’s horses – known also as “hayburners” – have trouble with Seattle’s hills, so cars pulled by cables beneath the street are introduced. The Lake Washington Cable Railway, linking Leschi and Pioneer Square, is especially popular in the summer, when people ride along Yesler Way or Madison Street for a picnic at the lake.
1889 – Osgood unveils Seattle’s first electric streetcar, despite fears that the line would magnetize pocket watches and shock horses with stray bolts of electricity. On the first run, a car stalls, forcing passengers to push it to the end of the line.
View Slideshow » Illustration:From Blackbird: “Osgood’s contributions helped Seattle become a more modernized city and dramatically changed its street culture, helping Seattle’s working man keep his shoes clean on his daily way through town and making his gal’s Sunday afternoon picnics at Lake Washington as easy as hopping on a trolley.”
If there’s a local store more intelligently enamored of their neighborhood, I don’t know it. Two new footwear options from Ballard’s Blackbird underscore their affinity for well-made, long-lasting, classic style and the rich history of Seattle. And it’s products—remember the recently issued Filson x Blackbird messenger bag?
Made in collaboration with Alden, a Massachusetts footwear concern known for doing pretty much the same thing (in, you know, a good way) since 1884, the Hayburner oxford ($540) and the Christopherson’s Creamery boot ($649) were conceived of in Ballard and executed on the other side of the country using generations-old leather and shoe-making craftsmanship.
It’s worth noting that it’s uh, no small feat to get something like this done. Alden is a highly regarded brand that straddles fashion and good old-fashioned practicality with a full fleet of designers and artisans. Stepping (I can’t help it!) into their design room and production schedule with a custom-made, limited-run Northwest-centric series shows some tenacity on Blackbird’s part—and it shows brand respect on Alden’s side, too.
Click through the slideshow to see the new products and find out what inspired them.
Tags: Locally Designed, Seattle Menswear
I am madly in love with these boots.