Demand pushes retailer to boost boots production

LEWISTON, Maine — L.L. Bean is kicking it up a notch as demand continues to surge for its iconic boot.

The Maine-based outdoors retailer has leased a larger, 110,000-square-foot building and plans to install a third injection-molding machine to manufacture the rubber soles. It’s also hiring 100 more workers in the new year.

Annual sales have grown from fewer than 100,000 a decade ago to more than 600,000 this year. The company expects to top 700,000 next year.

A combination of form, function and nostalgia is behind the demand, said Willie Lambert, Bean’s merchandising manager for footwear.

“It’s kind of like everything old is new again,” Lambert said. “They’re gravitating to the past and anchoring themselves into it.”

The leather-and-rubber “hunting shoe” was designed by Leon Leonwood Bean 104 years ago. The formula hasn’t changed — they’re handmade in Maine. The success is rolled up in a retro trend that strikes a chord both with baby boomers and younger consumers.

The Urban Outfitters store in Manhattan currently has record players, vinyl albums and tape decks in the front window, Lambert noted.

Currently, some of the hottest-selling shoes are Adidas Stan Smith and Superstar sneakers, designs that saw their heyday 40 years ago, said Dan Hess, CEO of Merchant Forecast, an independent research company.

“There can be times when true classics become trendy,” Hess said.