# L.L. Bean and Patagonia relationship?



## katon (Dec 25, 2006)

Stumbled across this mention in a 1988 article on Patagonia:


> And even former customers are becoming competitors. Chouinard says Patagonia will be limiting its relationship with L.L. Bean -- which has carried and sold Patagonia labels for years -- because Bean has copied some of his products. Indeed, the cover of Bean's Winter Values 1988 catalog features a jacket that looks eerily similar to one longtime staple in the Patagonia line. Bean has no comment.


So what was their relationship? Was it through Bean that Patagonia stuff started making its way into the look?


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## Pink and Green (Jul 22, 2009)

I have no further information for you, but judging by the sheer amount of interesting but obscure things you've brought up lately, I'd love to know what you're reading or surfing.


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## ASF (Mar 6, 2006)

I don't know the exact name for their relationship, but in the early-mid 80's, I used to buy all my P-gonia Baggies and some fleece products from L.L. Bean. If I recall, the Baggies were priced around $15.00.

asf


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## Mazama (May 21, 2009)

katon said:


> So what was their relationship? Was it through Bean that Patagonia stuff started making its way into the look?


I'd say this is just an example of the inherent conflict between a national retailer wanting to develop its own brand and suppliers also wanting to develop THEIR brand. Carrying Patagonia attracted retail customers and revenue but did nothing to develop the LLBean brand (along with the presumably higher profit margin of a private label). Bean's in-house active outdoor wear was generally considered an "also ran" or "economy" brand in the 1970-80s, so they needed to carry more brand names that provided leading edge cachet (e.g., Patagonia, North Face). Subsequently LLBean developed respective and competitive high-end functional outdoor wear of its own and seems to having a lot of success in that area. Packs? Mixed results. Lightweight tents... generally mediocre.


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## LastMango (Jan 28, 2010)

Mazama said:


> ... Carrying Patagonia attracted retail customers and revenue but did nothing to develop the LLBean brand (along with the presumably higher profit margin of a private label)


Not sure how you get any higher profit margin than Patagucci...


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## katon (Dec 25, 2006)

An early crossover, from Spring of 1982:


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## Trip English (Dec 22, 2008)

LastMango said:


> Not sure how you get any higher profit margin than Patagucci...


If you're Patigonia, that's possibly true. If you're a retailer_ selling_ Patigonia, it's less likely to be the case.


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## Epaminondas (Oct 19, 2009)

katon said:


> An early crossover, from Spring of 1982:


That's interesting - we used to get Bean catalogs even back in 1982 and I had no recollection of Bean offering them that far back. Polyester fleecewear didn't really hit my consciousness until circa. 1987-89 when I started to see it pop-up on my college campus (which, not being familiar with it, I was surpised why someone would prefer some polyester things over a wool sweater). I later bought a fleece pullover from bean with a snap v-neck and elastic waist/cuff, but that was probably around 1990.


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## katon (Dec 25, 2006)

Another earlier crossover:









(1981)

L.L. Bean offering Patagonia Stand-Up Shorts.


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## MidWestTrad (Aug 14, 2010)

I worked in an outdoors shop here in Cleveland in the mid eighties and Patagonia was just starting to get mainstream. Patagonia was definitely ahead of the curve on a lot of outdoor wear that everyone has now (e.g., fleece, etc.) It makes sense that Bean would have been carrying Patagucci products. Definitely a fat profit margin on the stuff, even for retailers. One of the best perks of the job was being able to order stuff wholesale.

Katon, I used to have a pair of those stand-up shorts; extremely well made.


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## hsc89 (Oct 14, 2009)

It seems like the first pair of stand-up shorts I owned (back in the early 80s) came from LLBean - great shorts, by the way, trad or not. And, if memory serves me correctly, even after Bean started selling fleece jackets/pullovers with their own label, I vaguely recall reading somewhere at the time that it was still manufactured by Patagonia (in California?). They may have even still referred to the Bean labeled fleece by the Patagonia trademarked name - "synchilla." I would imagine that at the point Bean started using the term "polarfleece" (trademarked by another manufacturer), it signaled to the marketplace that their relationship had ended.


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## C. Sharp (Dec 18, 2008)

I was thinking mid 80's almost eveyone I can recall was wearing squall jackets like this Lands End model https://store.vintagepaperads.com/servlet/-strse-30555/1988-Lands-End-Squall/Detail. I remember Bean had one as well as Patagonia. I was never really sure who the originator of it was.


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## katon (Dec 25, 2006)

Another one, from 1983, courtesy of The Trad:









(1983)


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## tocqueville (Nov 15, 2009)

I wore one of those in college in northern california in the late 1980s. I don't recall if it was bean or Patagonia. It served me very well both as a jacket and a pillow on camping trips.


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## Himself (Mar 2, 2011)

Mazama said:


> I'd say this is just an example of the inherent conflict between a national retailer wanting to develop its own brand and suppliers also wanting to develop THEIR brand. Carrying Patagonia attracted retail customers and revenue but did nothing to develop the LLBean brand (along with the presumably higher profit margin of a private label). Bean's in-house active outdoor wear was generally considered an "also ran" or "economy" brand in the 1970-80s, so they needed to carry more brand names that provided leading edge cachet (e.g., Patagonia, North Face). Subsequently LLBean developed respective and competitive high-end functional outdoor wear of its own and seems to having a lot of success in that area. Packs? Mixed results. Lightweight tents... generally mediocre.


+1

No conflict though, just a natural progression.

Same with REI. They did, and still do, sell a lot of other brands. But they're gradually replacing it with their own stuff, which has been getting better and better.

Even Patagonia started with rugby shirts (not made by them), Dachstein wool gloves, etc.


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