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Shopping from 1933: LL Bean


I just received my LL Bean Spring 1933 catalog in the mail (egregious delivery delays!). I’m forwarding along to Archival readers in need of last minute moccasin sandals, pack baskets, tackle kits, Maine fishing coats, tobacco pouches or fly rod outfits for their August camps. To order your goods, complete the form below and send at once to LL Bean, Freeport Maine.
















Place your order here:

“no explanation or excuses required for returning an item”

6 thoughts on “Shopping from 1933: LL Bean”

  1. How do I find out if the transportation bag is compatible with my particular buckboard?

    Also, I am gratified that someone finally listened to the market and made a shoe for wide, tender feet that like to tramp all day long.

  2. While I love the clothes, I also covet the Hudson’s Bay blanket for $11.85. The same size is $329 today.

    According to an inflation calculator I found online, $11.85 in 1933 was the equivalent of $198.26 today… not $329. I suppose we have to take into account other things, such as availability of specific materials and how that affects the raw material price beyond basic inflation, etc.. But still. I think I’m being ripped off today! The new blanket is probably not even made of quite the same materials and with the same craftsmanship.

    What I do love is to see how enduring some styles are. Of course the quality of many of the products is in decline, but I love thinking that people in 1933 wore pretty much exactly the same style which is still available today.

  3. Don’t forget that this would have been in the middle of the Great Depression, so labor costs would have been unprecedentedly low, and profit margins were probably temporarily shaved razor thin just to keep sales volume up.

    I bet the 1928 price was higher, as would have been the 1947 price.

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