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Leon Leonwood Bean
Updated: July 27, 2020
12 things that define Maine
Leon Leonwood Bean had a vision for retail
Courtesy / L.L. Bean Inc.
The iconic L.L. Bean Maine Hunting Shoe now comes in a variety of styles.
Leon Leonwood Bean, who founded L.L. Bean in 1912, was an accomplished fisherman, avid hunter and seasoned outdoorsman. But what’s sometimes overlooked was his savvy as a businessman and innovations as a retailer.
He promoted the money-back guarantee, nearly losing his shirt early on when most of the early hunting shoes were returned when the stitching failed. Before blogs or the term “influencer” were invented, his catalog featured first-person descriptions of products like the chamois-cloth shirts — “the shirt I personally use on all my hunting and fishing trips.”
In the company’s mail-order catalog, Bean sold more than products. He sold a Maine way of life, not just with the folksy catalog copy but with the covers, an idealized portrait of fishing, camping and “camp” life as influential as Currier & Ives prints in their day.
He also knew the value of bringing people into Freeport. When a bypass was built around Freeport in the 1950s (despite Bean’s protests), the company touted U.S. Route 1, which went directly through downtown, as faster and safer, while allowing “you five minutes relaxation from heavy traffic strain.”
He also knew the value of a dollar, according to biographer M.R. Montgomery. When Life magazine ran a four-page feature in 1941, Bean wrote that it was “a big help” to the mail order business. “To have bought this space would have cost us $48,000,” he calculated.
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