L.L.Bean

Sep 24, 2022

L.L.Bean is an outdoor brand from Freeport, Maine, United States, founded in 1912 by Leon Leonwood Bean. The multinational clothing-retail company creates versatile, breathable clothing for women, men, and children.

L.L.Bean makes clothing, accessories, shoes, swimwear, and outdoor equipment. It ensures its American-made products look and feel great, season after season.

L.L.Bean is committed to community, sustainable materials, environmental stewardship, and the well-being of its employees. It has 27 retail stores outside of Maine and 10 outlets with new stores opening each year.

L.L.Bean thoughtfully designs every product with the outdoors in mind. It creates high-quality products to last a long time so customers can enjoy them longer and so they will have a lower impact on the environment.

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Sustainability Rating: 5/10

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Category: Clothing, accessories, shoes, bags

For: Women, men, children

Type: Basics, denim, knitwear, activewear, underwear, loungewear, swimwear, outerwear, sleepwear, boots, sandals, flats, sneakers

Style: Casual

Quality: Medium

Prices: $$

Sizes: XS-3XL, 2-16 (US), 4-18 (UK), 34-46 (EU), 4-18 (AU)

Fabrics: Cotton, linen, hemp, lyocell, modal, viscose, acetate, polyester, nylon, spandex, polyethylene, polypropylene, acrylic, neoprene, polyurethane, rubber, leather, wool, silk, down

100% Organic: No

100% Vegan: No

Ethical & Fair: No

Recycling: Yes

Producing countries: Austria, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, China, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, France, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Norway, Peru, Portugal, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdon, United States, Vietnam

Certifications: GOTS, GRS, RCS, RDS, RWS, FSC, Oeko-Tex, Bluesign

Sustainability Practices

L.L.Bean takes wide-ranging measures to increase sustainability and minimize environmental impact. It designs every product to be durable, not disposable, using fewer natural resources, and reducing waste.

L.L.Bean only uses a tiny proportion of organic materials such as organic cotton and hemp or recycled materials such as recycled polyester and regenerated nylon.

Most of the fabrics it uses are either natural without relevant certifications, such as regular cotton or linen, or synthetic petroleum-based fibers such as polyester, nylon, acrylic, and more.

L.L.Bean also uses a small proportion of semi-synthetic fibers or regenerated cellulosic fabrics such as Tencel lyocell, modal, acetate, and viscose.

Tencel is an eco-friendly fiber made with wood pulp from certified sustainable forests. But only a tiny proportion of the materials used by L.L.Bean are environmentally friendly and sustainable.

L.L.Bean publishes a list of all its manufacturers on its corporate website. It aims to make the right decisions to ensure more sustainable solutions, more environmentally-friendly facilities, and happier, healthier employees.

The 2022 Fashion Transparency Index gave L.L.Bean a score of only 10% based on how much the company discloses about its social and environmental policies, practices, and impacts.

L.L.Bean manufactures its clothes in Turkey and many other East Asian countries, where human rights and labor law violations happen every day.

The American clothing retailer doesn't show any labor certification standard that would ensure good working conditions, decent living wages, health, safety, and other crucial rights for workers in its supply chain.

L.L.Bean has a code of conduct that applies to all its suppliers and subcontractors. It has an in-house monitoring team that coordinates with third-party organizations and other brands to ensure standards for human rights and healthy working conditions.

L.L.Bean doesn't use exotic animal skin, hair, fur, or angora. But it uses leather, wool, silk, and down feathers to manufacture many of its clothing pieces.

These animal-derived materials are cruel and unethical. They also harm the environment by producing greenhouse gases and waste. More sustainable alternatives exist.

Sustainability Goals

L.L.Bean has committed to reducing its environmental impact in the creation of its products and the efficiency of the buildings it makes them in. It works hard to make its products more durable and sustainable.

100% of its cotton will be responsibly sourced by 2025. And in 2025, 100% of the polyester it uses in its garments will be recycled polyester. 70% of its nylon will be recycled nylon by 2025.

L.L.Bean also plans to reduce its US-owned and controlled GHG emissions by 50% by 2025.