A worker stitches boots in the facility where L.L. Bean boots are assembled in Brunswick, Maine. L.L. Bean's famed hunting boots are seeing a surge in popularity, necessitating the hiring of more than 100 additional employees to make them.
Though it took 100 years to turn hip, popularity on college campuses has turned L.L. Bean’s duck boot into a youthful fashion statement.
The Associated Press reports that the Freeport, Maine, manufacturer and retailer has seen sales escalate from 150,000 pairs four years ago to an expected 500,000 pairs in 2012. A spike that staggering has L.L. Bean hiring more people to make the boot, which has long been synonymous in the Northeast with hiking through snow (and plenty of other muck we’d rather not get into).
And while wading through the deep stuff on a college campus certainly has a more figurative feel, those campuses are exactly where the hunting boot has taken off, inspiring new fabric lining and exterior colors. Bright blue and pink, anyone? Yeah, those probably weren’t designed for the average rural farmer.
As consumers clamor for niche products that tell a story, L.L. Bean offers that history. Anyone even loosely associated with Maine knows that L.L. Bean is king and has ruled for generations. The AP report says that without anything wildly new in footwear beyond Crocs and UGG boots during the last few years, the door opened for a well-loved product with a cult-like following to gain a foothold on fashion.
The hunting boot isn’t about style though, really. Created 100 years ago when L.L. Bean himself couldn’t keep his feet dry on a hunting trip, the boot still gets made by hand in Maine and dunked in a tank to guarantee its watertight features. Being that it now comes with a variety of linings, profiles and colors, the boot has evolved greatly without really changing much. Well, except that now you’re hip if you wear it.