Watch exclusive videos of our trip to the L.L.Bean headquarters in Freeport. We went on a tour of the L.L.Bean archives, the product development department, and L.L.Bean’s testing lab, where every item is checked for quality before it lands on the shelf.
Part 1: “Shut down today. We’re going to go fishing or hunting or skeet shooting. And don’t bother to punch out.”
We put on our white gloves to join archivist Ruth Porter inside “the vault” of historic L.L.Bean treasures.
Part 2: “We look to the old first.”
Product developer Kevin Murray tells us about concepting and testing L.L.Bean’s hunting and fishing gear — in the shop, in the lab, and in the field.