BRUNSWICK, Maine—The L.L. Bean boot was set to hit the road Tuesday, as a giant, motorized version of the Maine icon set out on a promotional trip to Times Square in New York City.
The boot was built to help the Maine retailer celebrate its 100th year in business. In 1912, Leon Leonwood Bean founded the company with one product, a hunting boot. His first design failed, and he refunded 92 out of 100 customers their money. But he redesigned the boot and built the rest of the company around the product.
The boot-mobile was built in Florida, and started its promotional tour Monday at Bean’s manufacturing facility in Brunswick where the actual boots are made. From Brunswick, the big boot was set to hit the L.L. Bean flagship store in Freeport, make a quick stop at a garage for an inspection sticker, and then make its way to New York.
“If you know someone who takes a size 747 shoe, tell them ‘L.L. Bean has a boot for you,’” joked company CEO Chris McCormick, to a crowd of about 130 employees.
The boot is 13 feet tall, 20.6 feet long and 7.6 feet wide. The laces are tugboat mooring laces. And while a famous giant lady resides in New York City, the boot would be too big for her, according to Bean.
The boot would fit someone 143 feet tall, 32 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty, according to a Bean release.
Bean’s 100th anniversary comes as the iconic boot is resurging in popularity among younger generations, according to media reports and McCormick. McCormick said the company was on track to make more than 400,000 pairs of boots in the current year, which ends March 1 for the privately held company.
“Never in our history have we ever done that,” he said.
McCormick told the Bangor Daily News that Bean’s holiday sales were “OK,” and should be in the high-single-digits for the percentage of growth in sales over the 2010 holiday season.
The unseasonably warm weather through late fall and into early winter hurt Bean’s outerwear sales, said McCormick. And competitors ran heavy discounts as promotions over the holidays, taking up to 80 percent off goods, he noted. Bean had to respond with deep discounts, said McCormick, and while that may have boosted sales, it did affect profits.
For the coming year, Bean plans to open a retail store in Danbury, Conn., a popular shopping mecca near the border of New York. The company is also looking at opening at least two more outlet stores, though he wouldn’t discuss locations. And Bean is looking at further expansion into Japan and China, he said.
Bean currently has 17 retail stores outside Maine, and 12 outlets throughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic regions.
It opened its first international retail operation in Tokyo in 1992, and now has operations in several cities in Japan. It opened its first store in China in 2008, and now has 30 stores in that country.
The company has annual sales of $1.44 billion, employed more than 4,500 year-round in 2011 and more than 8,700 during the holiday season.
As workers gathered outside to take pictures with the big mobile boot, they were treated to a wintry mix of gray clouds, snow and cold temperatures that had been absent in Maine until very recently. That weather suited the occasion, and Jack Samson, L.L. Bean senior manager for manufacturing, noted that there’s “no such thing as bad weather.”
“Just bad gear.”
Wow, they had the car made in the USA.
Shocker!
Been boycotting them for years. Too bad most of the stuff is made outside the USA. Quality’s gone … should have framed the letter received from their VP when I complained about lack of Maine made products. You’d have loved it.
Yes, I don’t shop there much either. It reminds me of Schwinn-just a name with former glory but with goods made in China now.
Couple the Chinese gloves, hats, shirts, jackets, etc. with all those crappy little knick-knacks also made in China and that store just isn’t really anything special anymore.
I read similar comments to the Made in China concern in the New York Times article on LL Bean yesterday, too.
Its a Ford F250 underneath
I’d have liked to have read in this article about the percentage of their items made in China vs. the USA and how that has changed over the years.
I bet the stuff is cheaper in the Chinese stores-less cost to move the stuff within the same country.
When I worked there a year or so ago unpacking boxes there weren’t many from China anymore..mostly Vietnam, Bangledesh (too expensive to buy stuff from China as their cost of living has risen)…the Bean boots are now made in Lewiston again (as of around a year ago or so)
Shame on LL Beaney bought a pair of slippers then found out that they were made in China I discovered this after using them for a week. otherwise I would have returned them.
You can still return them!
you can still return them without question or hassle. they have a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee with no time limit on that.
The L.L. Bean name used to mean something: Made in Maine. Quality construction at a somewhat reasonable price. I can walk in any WalMart and buy a flannel shirt that is, most likely, made by the same manufacturer in China or Bangledesh.
The label no longer means quality. It means cheap now, not in price, but cheap in quality. Americans are not dumb. We read labels on the garments. Why on earth would we spend 45.00 on a flannel shirt when we can get it for 12.95 at other stores. IF it was made in Maine, I would spend a little extra for a shirt that would last a long time.
On L.L. Bean’s Facebook page when you confront them, they will delete you. When you ask they WHY they still make goods overseas, they will delete you. They just don’t want to listen to the customer any longer about products made abroad. We need jobs in America, oh sure, they still make the boots and the tote bags “right here, in Maine”, nah, we are not buying that. Those fat cats are pocketing a ton in profits.
I’ve closed my L.L Bean card and refuse to shop there anymore. I know that I am NOT alone.
How encouraging! I thought I was the only one who cared…!
How encouraging! I thought I was the only one who cared…!
so does this mean that you will only purchase made in america products and that you are boycotting all stores that have foreign made products. i hope you do not like harley-davidson’s then, because they are mostly american, but the carb is from japan and other components are from mexico and canada. i hope that you do not ride around in a ford or dodge. they all have foreign made components.
those items that are made overseas for ll bean are made in a ll bean facility under ll bean supervision. did you ever stop to think about why american companies are heading overseas. high taxes, high electrical costs, over powering regulations, high cost of labor, etc. there is more to it then just wanting to make a buck. ll bean still has 300 products made right here in maine.
can you take back a flannel shirt as used in your post and return it after 5, 10, 15 years and get another one. no! you purchase a cheep flimsy shirt that sells for $12.95 at commie mart and then what do you do with it when the seams are letting go after a year or so. one of two things. repair it which i doubt because you are lazy and second, you throw it away clogging up landfills.
I just used WalMart as an example and yes, I do buy from American made clothing companies. It’s easy. I have NO problem finding a well made flannel on the internet made in vermont.
Oh yes, Beans will take back the flannel, but they will NOT give you the same price you paid for it back “..10…15 ” years ago. I’ve done it.
You don’t even know me, why on earth would you say I was lazy? Whatever…