{"id":244865,"date":"2024-07-18T10:02:13","date_gmt":"2024-07-18T10:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/18\/ll-bean-bag-finds-a-new-audience-as-a-must-have-fashion-accessory\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:14:29","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:14:29","slug":"ll-bean-bag-finds-a-new-audience-as-a-must-have-fashion-accessory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/18\/ll-bean-bag-finds-a-new-audience-as-a-must-have-fashion-accessory\/","title":{"rendered":"LL Bean bag finds a new audience as a must-have fashion accessory"},"content":{"rendered":"

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L.L. Bean created it 80 years ago to haul heavy blocks of ice. Now it\u2019s a must-have summer fashion accessory.<\/p>\n

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The simple, sturdy canvas bag called the Boat and Tote is having an extended moment 80 years after its introduction, thanks to a social media trend in which they\u2019re monogrammed with ironic or flashy phrases.<\/p>\n

New Yorker Gracie Wiener helped get it started by ordering her humble bags from L.L. Bean<\/a> monogrammed with \u201cPsycho\u201d and then \u201cPrada,\u201d the pricey Italian luxury brand, instead of just her name or initials, and posting about them on Instagram<\/a>. Then others began showcasing their own unique bags on TikTok.<\/p>\n

Soon, it wasn\u2019t enough to have a bag monogrammed with \u201cSchlepper,\u201d \u201cHOT MESS,\u201d \u201cslayyyy\u201d or \u201ccool mom.\u201d Customers began testing the limits of the human censors in L.L. Bean\u2019s monogram department, which bans profanity \u201cor other objectionable words or phrases,\u201d with more provocative wording like \u201cBite me,\u201d \u201cDum Blonde\u201d and \u201cAmbitchous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Social media fueled the surge, just as it did for Stanley\u2019s tumblers and Trader Joe\u2019s $2.99 canvas bags, which were once selling on eBay<\/a> for $200, said Beth Goldstein, an analyst at Circana, which tracks consumer spending and trends.<\/p>\n

The tote\u2019s revival came at a time when price-conscious consumers were forgoing expensive handbags, sales of which have weakened, and L.L. Bean\u2019s bag fit the bill as a functional item that\u2019s trendy precisely because it\u2019s not trendy, she said. L.L. Bean\u2019s regular bags top out at about $55, though some fancier versions cost upward of $100.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a trend toward the utilitarian, the simple things and more accessible price points,\u201d she said, and the customization added to the appeal: \u201cStatus items don\u2019t have to be designer price points.\u201d<\/p>\n

L.L. Bean\u2019s tote was first advertised in a catalog as Bean\u2019s Ice Carrier in 1944 during World War II, when ice chests were common. Then they disappeared before being reintroduced in 1965 as the Boat and Tote.<\/p>\n

These days, they\u2019re still made in Maine and are still capable of hauling 500 pounds of ice, but they are far more likely to carry laptops, headphones, groceries, books, beach gear, travel essentials and other common items.<\/p>\n

Those snarky, pop-oriented phrases transformed them into a sassy essential and helped them spread beyond Maine, Massachusetts\u2019 Cape Cod and other New England enclaves to places like Los Angeles and New York City, where fashionistas like Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon and Sarah Jessica Parker are toting them \u2014 but not necessarily brandished with ironic phrases.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just one of those things that makes people smile and makes people laugh, and it\u2019s unexpected,\u201d said Wiener, who got it all started with her @ironicboatandtote Instagram page, which she started as a fun side hustle from her job as social media manager for Air Mail, a digital publication launched by former Vanity Fair Editor-in-Chief Graydon Carter.<\/p>\n

The folks at L.L. Bean were both stunned and pleased by the continuing growth. For the past two years, the Boat and Tote has been L.L. Bean\u2019s No. 1 contributor to luring in new customers, and sales grew 64% from fiscal years 2021 to 2023, spokesperson Amanda Hannah said.<\/p>\n

The surge in popularity is reminiscent of L.L. Bean\u2019s traditional hunting shoe, the iconic staple for trudging through rain and muck, which enjoyed its own moment a few years back, driven by college students.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[ad_1] L.L. Bean created it 80 years ago to haul heavy blocks of ice. Now it\u2019s a must-have summer fashion accessory. The simple, sturdy canvas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":244866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[149],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244865"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}