The New Signature Collection from L.L. Bean
There’s something immensely impressive about a piece of outdoor gear that is not only functional, but looks great too. Most outdoor gear sacrifices any kind of aesthetics for pure functionality. And that’s just fine by me. Should you really be giving that much of a damn about what you look like when you’re in the middle of the woods enjoying the great outdoors? No. But… men used to wear wool blazers, classic leather boots, and sturdy gloves when they were outside hunting, fishing, and camping. Why not emulate that style and ditch the fluorescent nylon and polyester where you can?
L.L. Bean will try and do just that with their upcoming Signature Collection. The outfitter will NOT abandon its usual every-day outdoor line. The new signature collection will be cut a bit slimmer, look a bit more modern (in that throwback classic kind of way, and yes I know that sounds weird) and all in all will make the outdoors more of a luxury experience again.
Translation: Better materials, and it’ll cost more. $30 bucks for a t-shit? Dang.
Perhaps it’ll provide some great inspiration for when you hit a thrift store. One of my favorite pieces of outdoor gear is an old wool blazer I found for $8.50 at a Goodwill. It works great around the campsite.
A word of advice: Just don’t buy something from this new collection that you know you’ll be afraid to get dirty. Because that’s what this stuff should be made for. The new line should appear in the near future.