Alden makes so many wonderful shoes that inevitably some of just don’t get as much buzz, as if they were the 14th kid in a farming family whose broadcast seeder skills are just totally overlooked
One could say that’s the case with the Ranger Mocc, which is essentially Alden’s low-top version of its Michigan boot. The Michigan itself is something of a distant cousin of Alden’s famed Indy boot—it features a true moc-toe construction instead of just the Indy’s distinctive moc-ish stitching.
While most Michigan makeups honestly don’t top my personal list of Alden boots I stare at while drifting off to sleep at night, when you chop it down to a shoe, I’m pretty damn enamored. David Wood Clothiers in Portland (the Maine version) just released one of the most enjoyable Ranger Mocc makeups I’ve seen, dubbed the Mackworth.
Named for an island off Portland’s Casco Bay, the reverse-welted Mackworth is built on Alden’s Van last in fully-lined tan suede atop a distinctive red microcell foam rubber outsole—which David Wood owner David Hodgkins says is “quite similar to the Bass white buck shoe that I, and many men, used to wear at the University of Maine back in the late sixties.” 
The five brass eyelets complete the summer-ready Portland look by adding a “classic wooden sailboat swagger,” says Wood. Small bit of corroborating evidence that’s true: I was recently lucky enough to live on a sailboat for the better part of week, but it wasn’t made of wood, and we never once used the word “swagger.” Although we did make a lot of “batten down the hatches” jokes that weren’t very good.
The Mackworth is a limited run release, but they still have a number of sizes left. And we’ll be keeping a close eye on what else David Wood (shop and human both) have up their Alden sleeves in the future.
