LL Bean Boots - History and Buying Guide, v2.0

Love 'em or hate 'em, we're solidly into Bean Boot season in most of the US. This is an update and extension to a guide I put together last fall, and as always, suggestions, revisions and corrections are welcome!

Since their deep roots in American menswear is part of the reason I love Bean Boots, I wanted to start there (Section I below) I also put together an overview of options and a buying guide (Section II).

But first, an inspiration album.

I realize these aren't everyone's cup of tea, but for me, the attraction is a direct function of their utility. They aren't sleek, and when you wear them, they really stand out. I don't know - maybe you have to have grown up in a place where everyone wore them.

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I. History

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The origins of the Bean boot are essentially the origins of the company. The Bangor Daily News gives one take on the history here, and here's another from Gizmodo. And from Bean's own company history -

In 1911, an avid outdoorsman named Leon Leonwood Bean returned from a hunting trip with cold, damp feet and a revolutionary idea. L.L. enlisted a local cobbler to stitch leather uppers to workmen's rubber boots, creating a comfortable, functional boot for exploring the Maine woods.

L.L. began his business by working out of the basement of his brother's apparel shop. In 1912, he obtained a mailing list of nonresident Maine hunting license holders and prepared a three-page flyer that boldly proclaimed, "You cannot expect success hunting deer or moose if your feet are not properly dressed. The Maine Hunting Shoe is designed by a hunter who has tramped the Maine woods for the last 18 years. We guarantee them to give perfect satisfaction in every way."

By the 1980s, the boots were iconic enough (with a certain demographic) that Lisa Birnbach made them a centerpiece of the tongue-in-cheek Official Preppy Handbook - see here and here, for example.

In 2009, when LL Bean re-hired Alex Carleton (a former LL Bean designer who had left to found Rogue's Gallery) to design the new Signature line, he started with a Bean boot.

However, I think the more interesting history comes from many people's deep connection to the boots, which look almost identical to the ones their families have been buying for generations). In 2010, Lawrence Schlossman (Sartorially Inclined, and How to Talk to Girls at Parties) started a series of guests posts called The Bean Boot Project. He asked other menswear bloggers to write and post pictures of their experiences with the boots, and lots of them responded. This story (from a now-defunct blog called Wingtip) is my favorite -

My dad has been wearing Bean boots for at least as long as I've been alive. The same pair. Worn-in, broken-down, mud-encrusted. The leather has wrinkled and aged. The heel logo has long since worn off. Even the laces have split dramatically.

If I had to guess, I'd say I've given them more thought than he has. To him, they are just boots. He puts them on when it's wet. He puts them on when it's cold, when it's muddy, or when it snows (conditions which, for anyone not familiar with Buffalo NY, reflect about 8 months of the year!) But they are his boots. The wear and tear reflect his labors. They're the first and only shoes he puts on before he steps outdoors.

Naturally, I've grown to admire the Bean boot. It has been, after all, a consistent component of the man I look up to the most. And while I may not be following my father's academic and professional footsteps, you can bet I'll be wearing the same shoes.

Bean boots have always been sewn in Maine by LL Bean employees - they aren't contracted out to third parties, and construction has never been outsourced to foreign countries. A couple years ago, the guys from All Plaid Out and A Restless Transplant visited the factory in Brunswick, ME (the same factory that makes the LL Bean boat & totes). The post has a bunch of stories and fantastic photos, but here's their introduction -

Walking into L.L. Bean’s factory in Brunswick, Maine feels exactly like it should. It smells of stale solvents; of tannery leathers oiled thick as an outfielder’s glove in mid-September; of raw canvas so heavy and fibrous that filaments cling to the insides of my nostrils. These smells, they fight for air as people flit back and forth in small work stations, moving through tasks with the grace and ease of highly skilled dancers. It looks like a factory should: a collection of task-specific machines designed by the very workers who use them every day, because, unlike the iconic Bean Boots produced here, you can’t find a triple-stitch machine in a catalogue. Each station has been retro-fitted to suit the assigned employee, right down to decorated oscillating fans and CD players blaring “Bleeding Love,” by Leona Lewis into cheap Chinese headphones; “It’s one way to make it through the day,” the stitcher yarns in an accent thick as a lobster roll. It sounds like a factory should sound: plenty of drumming and punching and carwonging, the zip of the skiving machine, the heavy-hammer thunk of the leather press….

LL Bean has also done some video walkthroughs/interviews of the construction process - here's one from their own website, and here's one from a local TV network.

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II. Buying Guide

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If you're going to order a pair, you have some options for (1) height, (2) lining, (3) material of the upper, (4) color, and (5) closure type (all broken out in more detail below). But if you're buying your first pair, I recommend the classic 8" in tan.

Note that, whichever options you're looking at, the boots are seriously oversized. For the unlined boots, you'll want to buy a full 1-1.5 sizes below your regular shoe size. For example, I wear 12.5 in dress shoes, 13 in running shoes, and an 11 in Bean boots, and they're roomy enough for thick wool socks. This blog post suggests not sizing down quite as far for the lined boots.

For care, I put together a step-by-step waterproofing guide last fall. Bean will also resole your boots with a full new rubber bottom half for about $30, which is how people are managing to pass these down through generations.

While I'm a purist, but Bean isn't the only company making boots with leather uppers stitched to rubber soles. Valet has a rundown of some other options here.

(1) Height

They come in seven different heights, from slip-on rubber mocs to massive 16" tall Maine Hunting Shoes. For most people, the 8" boot is going to work best - it's tall enough to keep out snow and rain, but not so high that it's hard to walk in or tuck pants into. Another versatile choice would be the low gumshoes, which aren't quite slip-on but work well on damp, misty fall/spring days. I wear my gumshoes for yardwork a lot, so they've been out raking leaves quite a bit the last few weeks.

(2) Lining

The standard Bean boots are unlined, but for serious winter wear, you'd want a pair with Gore-Tex and Thinsulate. They've also just started making them with shearling lining, but I haven't read any reviews or tried on a pair personally. For rain and all but the deepest, coldest snow, the standard unlined boots with thick, wool socks are enough.

(3) Upper Material

In the main line of boots, there are some options for leather uppers, although they're generally limited to one height and color. You can get the 10" boots in bison leather, and the 10" Maine Hunting Shoes have pebble-grain leather (and come in lined and unlined versions). Over in the Signature line, there's a waxed canvas version (as opposed to leather) available in four colors. I think these look fantastic, but I'm not sure they'd be as waterproof as the originals. Still, it's not like waxed canvas is porous or anything.

(4) Color

Hands down, if you want the most classic color, get tan. Dark brown is the other main option, and it blends in better with the brown rubber soles, and makes it a little less obvious that you're wearing Bean boots (for good or ill). They just added an even more ninja-esque black leather/black rubber version for the mocs. The Signature line has been a little more inventive with colors, and the waxed canvas version is available in navy, tan, olive and black. There's also a new black leather option Recently, Bean added two boots with red tread instead of the classic gum - in bison and tan leather uppers.

(5) Closure

Laced boots are the standard, but they also make pull-ons and the brand-new Lounger with a strap. There was a blogger-led movement to bring back the Lounger out of retirement, so I'm assuming that's why they feel like they can charge $200 for an unlined boot.

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Thanks for reading, and as always, suggestions for revisions, extensions and corrections are always welcome!

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