LL Bean sent me another invitation to purchase from their catalog. When I first opened this up, I was happy to see that LL Bean Signature was veering towards a more permanent and classic style. Subtle tartan flat-front wool pants? Polished leather shoes? Count me in... I'll take it.
A nice classic sweater of wardrobe-staple caliber? Yes. Wearable and versatile shirt, too? Now we're talking. Untucked I wouldn't do, but who cares. It looks good. Well, Bean Signature, you may be winning me back.
Wait... what the-? Are the Bruins playing tonight? Why is this guy drinking at 9AM on a Tuesday? He can certainly flick a cigarette further than most, but I don't like the way he is eyeing that plate-glass window.
This guy wasn't even born when Hee-Haw was still on prime time. The hunting motif serves as a painful reminder of activities in which he'll never participate... unless he hits a doe with his Passat.
Are you a private detective who also runs an auxiliary snow-plow route? Luck was a lady tonight because your up-state upholstery connection has finally paid off. [Read actual reviews here.]
He proudly tells you that the small cut on his hand is "from a chainsaw accident". What he doesn't tell you is that it was from dropping the Husqvarna floor model at the local hardware store.
This smarmy guy has been prowling around the train station in Budapest asking women to have lunch with him and bumming smokes from the older travelers. He hasn't showered in days and has an unrecognizable accent, and now your passport and iPod are gone.

A nice classic sweater of wardrobe-staple caliber? Yes. Wearable and versatile shirt, too? Now we're talking. Untucked I wouldn't do, but who cares. It looks good. Well, Bean Signature, you may be winning me back.
Wait... what the-? Are the Bruins playing tonight? Why is this guy drinking at 9AM on a Tuesday? He can certainly flick a cigarette further than most, but I don't like the way he is eyeing that plate-glass window.
Tired of people asking you where you bought your belt?
LL Bean Signature's design team has scoured thousands of old publications and images for their inspiration, and apparently high school yearbooks from 1991 were fair game. After college, it took this small-town varsity quarterback three tries to get his real estate license.

This guy wasn't even born when Hee-Haw was still on prime time. The hunting motif serves as a painful reminder of activities in which he'll never participate... unless he hits a doe with his Passat.
Are you a private detective who also runs an auxiliary snow-plow route? Luck was a lady tonight because your up-state upholstery connection has finally paid off. [Read actual reviews here.]
He proudly tells you that the small cut on his hand is "from a chainsaw accident". What he doesn't tell you is that it was from dropping the Husqvarna floor model at the local hardware store.
This smarmy guy has been prowling around the train station in Budapest asking women to have lunch with him and bumming smokes from the older travelers. He hasn't showered in days and has an unrecognizable accent, and now your passport and iPod are gone.
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I hope that they will do more of this...
...and less of this:
There is a reason re-invention often goes poorly. There is little lasting wisdom from focus groups, but three or four generations of society tend to shake out the forms that deserve to last. The first round of Signature snark is here.