Gracie Wiener from New York City poses with one of her LL Bean tote bags. She is said to have helped popularise the design. Photo: AP
LL Bean created it 80 years ago to haul heavy blocks of ice. Now it's a must-have summer fashion accessory.
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're monogrammed with ironic or flashy phrases.
New Yorker Gracie Wiener helped get it started by ordering her humble bags from LL Bean monogrammed with "Psycho” and then "Prada”, the pricey Italian luxury brand, instead of just her name or initials, and posting about them on Instagram.
Then others began showcasing their own unique bags on TikTok.
Soon, it wasn’t enough to have a bag monogrammed with "Schlepper”, "HOT MESS”, "slayyyy” or "cool mom”.
Customers began testing the limits of the human censors in LL Bean’s monogram department, which bans profanity "or other objectionable words or phrases”, with more provocative wording like "Bite me”, "Dum Blonde” and "Ambitchous”.
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Social media fuelled the surge, just as it did for Stanley’s tumblers and Trader Joe’s US$2.99 (approximately RM14) canvas bags, which were once selling on eBay for US$200 (RM933), said Beth Goldstein, an analyst at Circana, which tracks consumer spending and trends.
The tote’s revival came at a time when price-conscious consumers were forgoing expensive handbags, sales of which have weakened, and LL Bean’s bag fit the bill as a functional item that’s trendy precisely because it’s not trendy, she said.
LL Bean's regular bags top out at about US$55 (RM257), though some fancier versions cost upward of US$100 (RM467).
"There’s a trend toward the utilitarian, the simple things and more accessible price points,” she said, and the customisation added to the appeal: "Status items don’t have to be designer price points.”
LL Bean’s tote was first advertised in a catalog as Bean’s 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.
These days, they’re 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.
Those snarky, pop-oriented phrases transformed them into a sassy essential and helped them spread beyond Maine, Massachusetts’ 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 – but not necessarily brandished with ironic phrases.
"It’s just one of those things that makes people smile and makes people laugh, and it’s unexpected,” said Wiener, who got it all started with her Instagram page (@ironicboatandtote).
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She started it 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.
The folks at LL Bean were both stunned and pleased by the continuing growth.
For the past two years, the Boat and Tote has been LL Bean’s number one contributor to luring in new customers, and sales grew 64% from fiscal years 2021 to 2023, spokesperson Amanda Hannah said.
The surge in popularity is reminiscent of LL Bean’s 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. – AP
