L.L. Bean’s Signature Line Hits The Mark.
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The line previewed at Bates College last week before anyone else got a chance to see it and it’s slated to get reviewed at five other colleges w/students as its brand ambassadors. (sunjournal 3/11)
If the university crowd is your target market, then this is a great way to reach them: on their turf and exclusively. This is really one of those counter trends in response to the overwhelming churn of social media. How better to get someone’s attention and to put them in the mood than to first pick a spot that conveys the mood of the line (a coffee shop in a New England college….)
and make it a trunk show!
Trunk shows have been being done since the beginning of the fashion industry but to an audience who was loaded and generally something on the level of a socialite. Bates College, et al, doesn’t exactly meet the usual trunk show crowd definition but I give it an A+ for the times we are living in. Set’s the tone, the mood, the buzz….will the line stand up to the hype?
It’s open for all to view and buy at it’s website, LL Bean Signature.com, so you can form your own opinion. But I’d suggest you hit the men’s site first and go for the Mariner’s tee (that’ll last you well into the next decade), and then onto the shoes. I already own one of the Ranger moc’s from back in the 80′s (were they even called that then?) and I’ll tell you, it’s a great shoe. I want it in the darker color now. My daughter saw me wearing it the other day and I thought they were gonna be snapped off my feet.
Then there is the L.L. Bean classic hunting boot that has been modernized. Again I own that hunting boot from the 80′s and that’s probably the best boot made on earth. It will last me into the next century (in other words, longer than I will live) but I’d buy the more modern version, the Waxed Canvas Maine Hunting Shoe, cause it’s cool…that one I could wear into any restaurant and not feel over booted. (watch the vid while you’re at the site, I am a sucker for nostalgia, and it’s Americana personified, A++)
Yeah. There are some pretty cool updated Bean classics that the well heeled college crowd will love and adore. I might work a little on the women’s line but they’ve got some great sweaters, and again, shoes, ooh and totes.
Well on it’s way to becoming a classic, L.L. Bean’s Signature Line is worth the hype. But don’t take my word for it….
[...] note, this is the second post in about two weeks that talks about fashion being on campuses (see post on L.L. Bean’s Signature Line), so there’s a movement to take note [...]