Thursday, October 7, 2010

Archives: Vintage LL Bean Sailing Boots

Bean's BoatShoe

My two loves of sailing and LL Bean boots all rolled into one. Sign me up please.

As I was flipping through Esquire's fall edition of The Big Black Book, I stumbled across an article titled, "A Damn Fine Day Out," where four designers test drove their fall collection in the great outdoors. 



And when I got to the LL Bean Signature section, I quickly noticed that Alex Carleton was wearing LL Bean boots on his yacht. However, after a closer inspection, I realized that his boots had white deck soles.


I contacted Laurie Brooks (LL BeanPR) to get the scoop on these boots and she informed me that they are indeed Bean sailing boots that were only sold in '83 and '84. Alex brought along his vintage pair for the excursion.


If LL Bean ever decides to re-issue these BoatShoes, I'll be the first one in line to give them a test drive on a Flying Scott.

7 comments:

  1. I almost snagged a pair on ebay last year but was outbid... very upsetting.

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  2. I keep seeing that black and white norwegian sweater everywhere, except on the LL Bean Signature site. Are they going to roll out a separate winter line?

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  3. @Schorsch
    I believe they are rolling out a few items this winter.

    Is this the Norwegian you're talking about:
    http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/65618?pi=1091161&subrnd=0&feat=60845-ppxsrr1

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  4. What are the soles made out of? They look kind of like crepe.

    Also, the Nor. sweater/jeans/boat shoes outfit is cool as a polar bear sipping a milkshake in a snowstorm, maybe cooler.

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  5. If made is the U.S., sign me up as well.
    They will (hopefully) have better than break your neck on a wet linoleum floor traction than the current bean boots.

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  6. Those shoes are pretty sweet. Hope they bring them back.

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  7. I know this is a super old thread, but I found a pair of these still up for auction on ebay right now. $30 + $8.75 ship. The item/auction # 181280024870. Alternately, it can be searched for by the title "LL Bean deck shoes 14 N." It has a day or so before the auction ends with no bids presently.

    I think these are the coolest of shoes, so I just wanted to pass the info along to any interested parties.

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