L.L. Bean Fall 1936 catalog scans

[katon]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/texasgirl_333/sets/72157616886275454/

Not mine, but worth a look.

Some highlights:

Footwear!

An early appearance by the Springfield rifle belt.

Point blanket coats and accessories. Still relevant in the look?

 

[Youngster]

I want thems shoes so much. They mock imports. I love them.

 

[GentlemanGeorge]

I like the prices.

 

[Mazama]

I LOVE that old catalog style, which persisted, unchanged, into the 1980s I believe. LL Bean - a marketing genius - personally wrote or edited the catalog text into the 1960s when he was in in his 90s.

LL Bean's grandson and former company CEO, Leon Gorman, tells the story in "L.L. Bean: The Making of an American Icon".

 

[katon]

Point blanket coats and accessories. Still relevant in the look?

If you're keen on one of these, Monitaly, the other project of Yuki Matsuda (who started footwear company Yuketen), is offering U.S.-made blanket coats.

 

[frosejr]

The old catalogs are appealing because they are no-nonsense. Mr. Bean was not trying to "build a brand" - he was trying to describe his stuff in a way that would make you want to buy it because of how it performed, not because of how it "made you feel." Can't get much more trad than that.

 

[katon]

Another couple photos of the blanket coat, from a tour of the showroom done by this fellow.

 

[Beresford]

I remember getting L. L. Bean catalogues that looked just like that. And I'm not that old.

 

[katon]

An original L.L. Bean blanket coat from 1940 in the L.L. Bean Archives:

(Courtesy of A Restless Transplant)

Also, the Cold Proof Duck Hunting Coat:

(Also from the L.L. Bean Archives via A Restless Transplant)

Not sure if this is the original or the "New and Improved" version. According to M.R. Montgomery in his book In Search of L.L. Bean, the original duck hunting coat was named such because it was made of cotton duck, and was designed for hunting.