Posted on 12/06/2014 10:41:37 AM PST by Red in Blue PA
A backlog of 60,000 boot orders could grow to 100,000 by month's end, and the company is in the process of hiring 100 workers and purchasing additional equipment to catch up with demand.
"We just can't make enough of them," said Tom Armstrong, L.L. Bean's chief merchandising officer.
The rubber-bottomed, leather-topped "duck boot" has seen sales grow from fewer than 100,000 a decade ago to about 450,000 this year. Next year, the number is expected to top 500,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
LOL!
WHOO HOO. Time to put on my flannels and riot and loot with all the other ‘youths’ who will kill for a pair of these shoes. Oh wait... You mean Minnesotans don’t wait in line for days and rob each other for a pair of duck boots???
Their merchandise is pretty good, but priced too high. If I get anything from them, it’s after markdown.
I’ve got a pair of LL Bean duck boots that I received as a Christmas gift over 30 years ago, still going strong. New laces every couple of years, that’s it. Still comfortable, still waterproof. They actually look better with age, the leather darkens and burnishes like a saddle.
I've got a pair of Danner Quarrys also, (very similar to the Fort Lewis boots) with the 8" tops. Magnificent boots, but how do you deal with 72 ounces on your feet?
I have a pair that’s over ten years old. I had to buy from Bean because that are the only ones who sell them in B widths.
The only reason they’re selling out is because everyone wants to wear boots and tights.
Those seams at the rubber/leather interface are a deal killer as far as getting another pair. I’ve duct-taped over them to get some relief but you shouldn’t have to do that on an ‘iconic’ shoe.
One foot at a time? Sorry, couldn’t resist...
They were trendy during the preppie phase of the seventies and I still have those boots although I never found them particularly comfortable and wear a different style.
Full Perchwanger leather, Gore-Tex breathable mesh, Vibram Ice Trek soles and full rubber rand at the toe to protect the boot from abrasion.
Now this is a mountain boot I wear in the winter between the days snow and ice comes in. Not fashionable but just comfortable over the miles on cold stony ground. A duck boot? Ugly - I don't see what people see is so great about it.
I live in Maine, and that’s one of my sister’s complaints, too....too much of their merchandise is made in China or elsewhere overseas, and is pricey.
Speaking of L.L. Bean, several years ago I went to a rummage sale in a small town here in Maine. I bought a number of books for fifty cents each. One of them was “L.L. Bean’s Guide to Hunting in the Maine Woods,” or a title something like that, from 1942. The book was signed by L.L. Bean himself.
The only flaw: a previous owner drew a handle bar moustache on the portrait of L.L. Bean in the front of the book with a ball point pen!
If Obama gets his way with a national police force, they’ll have to convert to making lots and lots of Jack Boots.
Pac boots are required for winter survival during routine, outdoor work in my area on the Rockies, along with parka, eye protection for folks without hooded eyes, etc. Maine weather is nice and easy in comparison.
Never had much luck with Bean shoes, fit-wise.
For the kids, their backpacks and lunchboxes are fantastic and worth the price, IMO. My husband’s work “uniform” is their Double L chinos and polos or oxfords. He used to love their t-shirts but they seem to have changed their sizing template and now they’re generally too short and/or slim fitting to suit him. He prefers the cheap “beefy Hanes” from Walmart.
Let me know when and where. I'd like to join you.
No... that would be with rags tied to your feet. You, like myself, are probably honoring our Neanderthal ancestors. Come wintertime, there are lots of footprints from my back door out to the snowbank... where smiley faces and other pictographs may be found... all made of yellow snow.
They were basically an attempt at an early upland hunting boot developed by Leon Leonwood Bean. They aren’t designed for cold weather but wet muck conditions typically encountered on an upland bird hunt. However, plenty of more modern and comfortable designs have come along in the last 70 years.
They added cushioned insoles for more support but that is about it. There is no way you could hike around in these for hours without tearing up your ankles. Mine I pretty much wear on the boat in fall for fishing.
I wore them at times when I was a meter reader years ago but you had to wear thick socks for cushioning your ankles. They were easy to get dog crap off of and were good in the rain and wet grass.
These boots are basically a sentimental homage to the early Bean days.
Everyone knows that you need to wear knee-high leather riding boots with your Lululemon yoga pants this year... and you better have at least one Vinyasa infinity scarf...
Good pac boots are like the duck boots, except that good pac boots have a thick, removable, replaceable liner and better tread for ice. Some good pac boots can be bought online or at Walmart for less than $40.
If you want a truly warm winter snow boot, Cabella’s Inferno 2000 boot will blow you away. Perfect for ice fishing and goose hunting in sub zero conditions. My wife loves her and says now she never gets cold feet.
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