LL Bean Maine Hunting Shoes
NB: Please note that I have over 250 items of traditional clothing available for sale on SF. To find them, please go to the "Most Active Sellers" list on the left of the Buy & Sell screen, and click on my username, tweedydon--found at the top of the list!
NB: Please note that I have over 250 items of traditional clothing available for sale on SF. To find them, please go to the "Most Active Sellers" list on the left of the Buy & Sell screen, and click on my username, tweedydon--found at the top of the list!
In 1911 Leon Leonwood Bean became tired of his feet getting cold and wet while he was hunting the Maine woods, and so persuaded a local cobbler to combine the lower foot box of a pair of rubber boots with a sturdy leather upper.
Bean was so pleased with the boots that in 1912 he formed a company--guess which one?--to market them. Unfortunately, the first set of 100 was not a success, as the uppers did not adhere well to the foot box. Undeterred, Bean contracted with US rubber to make a foot box with the express aim of using rubber than could be attached to leather. This worked wonderfully, and the Main Hunting Shoe was born. It only underwent one change: The addition of the now classic chain tread in 1947.
Contemporary Maine Hunting Shoes are slightly different from the very similar Bean Boots, in that they have a slightly more flexible sole--and so are closer to the original hunting shoes of LL Bean, where the ability to feel the ground beneath one's feet was an advantage.
Both Hunting Shoes and Bean Boots are now extremely fashionable, harkening back to their heyday of the 1980s when the Official Preppy Handbook called them "the second most important shoe (after Weejun loafers) in the preppy male's wardrobe." And, unlike many "heritage" brands with currently fashionable products (I'm looking at you, items from Fossil-owned Filson!) Bean has stuck to its old-school production values--these shoes and boots are all still hand-stitched in Maine using precisely the same techniques as always.Given that these shoes and boots have consistently sold out before Christmas for the last few years, Bean's commitment to maintaining its quality is laudable.
4) Bean Boots moccasins by LL. Bean.
Size 7 L (Ladies)
These are in Very Good/Excellent condition, with no scuffing to the uppers and little to no wear on the soles. These are in the very, very dark navy blue colourway--the very preppy alternative brown!
Asking just $35, or offer, boxed and shipped in the USA.
