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"Planning on flexing your sartorial muscles in the blog arena? You'll need to come packing. And no, we're not referring to your pocket square game. Every week on The Eye, we'll cover a basic term you need to know right now... before you get laughed off the internet.\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nWith Hurricane Sandy, this year's mandatory \"End of the Century,\" apocalyptic hell storm that plowed through the East Coast last week, it's only right that we dedicate this week's column to the most storied piece of American rain gear: L.L. Bean's Bean boots. It's impressively been over a century since Mr. Leon Leonwood Bean came up with his namesake boots but what's even more remarkable is that one hundred years later L.L. Bean has kept the design intact, exactly how their founder intended. It was in 1911 that L.L. Bean (the man), an avid hunter, was in the Maine wilderness when he stumbled upon something much larger than your average big game deer. Bean was tired of coming home from his excursions with puddles in his shoes and beat up feet, so the idea came to him for a new boot design, one that could remedy all the issues his tired leather-soled boots were causing.\n\nFollowing one particularly grueling trek through the forest Bean came home and, feeling inspired, grabbed a pair of rubber shoe bottoms from his shelf and took them to his local cobbler. Bean's request was to have seven inch uppers sewn directly onto the rubber soles and just like that, he created his Maine Hunting Shoe. At forty years old, Bean entered the world of retail, marketing his boots to the sportsmen of New England with detailed catalogs. Bean would send out his catalogs through the mail and customers would write back with their orders, an early example of the mail-order business that would become a cornerstone of the brand's business model. The first set of catalogs that Bean sent out was met with one hundred orders and from there the Maine Hunting Shoe's reputation only grew. In 1921, ten years after Bean crafted his first crude pair of boots, he patented them. Winfield A. Given, one of Bean's employees at the burgeoning company had tweaked the details of the boot, so he was credited as the inventor, and it's Given's basic design that is still largely used today.\n\nMaine Hunting Shoes became the footwear of adventurers. They were worn by arctic explorers, recommended by Ernest Hemingway, the support beneath the feet of this nation's bravest figures. Over the years what began as a boot company slowly evolved into a classic American brand, as L.L. Bean entered into apparel, luggage and accessories, opening up stores across the country and constantly pulling in sales from their famous catalogs. But all the while the boots reigned king. It was on the East Coast that Bean Boots found their most receptive audience, slipping into a comfortable slot as the winter shoe of choice for New England's best dressed. From the sixties through the eighties as trad style proliferated across the younger generation, Maine Hunting Shoes became a staple of any self-respecting East Coaster's wardrobe.\n\nFacebookPinterestduck-boot-l-l-bean-490.jpeg\n\nBringing things up to date, in 1992, L.L. Bean introduced the Bean Boot, which is nearly identical to the Maine Hunting shoe save for a thicker, longer wearing sole that takes the footwear into more distinctly boot territory. During the mid-aughts when the heritage movement hit menswear with full force, Bean's boots became the poster child for a subculture obsessed with classic American design. To this day, Bean Boots remain more popular than ever, as people continue to discover and learn the great story of Leon Leonwood Bean and his infallible footwear.\n\nJake Gallagher writes the blog Wax-Wane. He lives in Manhattan.\n\nRead more Dropping Knowledge:\n\n Dropping Knowledge: Harris Tweed\n\nDropping Knowledge: The Puffer Jacket\n\nDropping Knowledge: The Duffle Coat"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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