Since taking over as chairman of the board in 2013, Gorman has overseen the expansion of Bean’s brand, including the opening of four new retail stores, and continued the push to get Bean products into new customers’ homes-all while maintaining the company’s commitment to its existing customer base. National media outlets like ABC News and NPR have picked up the story of the Bean Boot backlog, but Gorman’s work- and indeed the legend that is L.L.Bean-is about much more than the latest fashion trend.

As part of the reissue, Bean introduced a waxed canvas Bean Boot, offered the boot in a variety of colors beyond the classic brown-and-tan and served up several insulated options, lined with Gore-Tex, Thinsulate and/or shearling. The Bean Boot’s resurgence is also the result of a key merchandising strategy: taking heritage products and tweaking them a bit for contemporary consumers. “I think it brought some attention and focus back to this really functional product that actually also has some good style to it,” he says. Long-loved by outdoorsmen for their all-weather durability, Bean Boots have spiked in popularity among the teens-and-20s sets, with students from Caribou to California clamoring for the must-have campus wear and creating a backorder of some 75,000 pairs that is expected to last well into spring.īut how exactly did the born-out-of-function-not-fashion boots become a must-have for a whole new generation? Gorman attributes the boots’ popularity to a reissue in 2012 that coincided with L.L.Bean’s 100th anniversary. In fact, there’s been a bit of a shortage of the boots for the past several months. He’s also the father of three high schoolers-two girls and a boy-and is therefore tuned into what the latest thing is when it comes to fashion trends.Īnd when it comes to footwear, Bean Boots are about as hot as it gets this winter, although the product (the company’s original) dates back to 1912.

He's the chairman of the board for the 103-year-old Maine company, which sells everything from sweaters and jeans to camping, hunting and other outdoor gear. Gorman is uniquely qualified to explain how L.L.Bean Boots-heavy rubber and leather boots also known as the Maine Hunting Shoe-have transcended their utilitarian roots to become a winter-fashion staple, right up there with a classic pea coat or a Burberry scarf. Bean corporate headquarters in Freeport, Maine, on a late fall afternoon. That’s the question in front of Shawn Gorman ’89 at the L.L. Bean, legendary retailer of everything from fly-fishing rods to flannel pajamas-and those boots.

Shawn Gorman ’89 is just the third chairman in the 103-year history of L.L.

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