Prologue: Ever have an idea, think it’s good, spend a lot of time developing it, and the further and further along it got the more you realized it was hot garbage? Well, that’s what this post is. It was early December 2025 and being uninspired by L.L. Bean’s recent fly fishing offerings, I envisioned a marriage of sorts. But the more I read, and re-read what I wrote, the more stupid I realized it was. That’s why this post has been sitting in my “drafts” for about two months. But since I went through the trouble of writing it… and scouring the internet for just the right professional wrestling photo to accompany it, I just couldn’t press Delete, and I decided to hit Publish instead. Silly, I know. So, enjoy my fever dream, one that literally nobody else in the world has, including these two companies.
L.L. Bean and Orvis Tag Team?
‘Tis the season for holiday catalogs to materialize in mailboxes across the country. Yeah, barrages of social media and email advertisements are certainly more prevalent these days. But some companies still send out old-timey paper catalogs by the thousands. Personally, I still enjoy paging through them, and as an example I just received one of what I assume will be the first of many L.L. Bean holiday catalogs last week.
Times they are a-changin’
There’s a lot going on in the retail landscape these days that are what I’ll call “signs of the times.” One of the most recent and notable strategic shifts came from Orvis in October when they announced they’d be adjusting their focus toward their traditional outdoor roots of the fly fishing and wingshooting categories. In doing so they’d be putting the majority of their lifestyle apparel on clearance. They also cited tariffs as an influence in this decision.
And to go along with that, Orvis has also decided to close 36 retail stores to better service customers through productive locations, e-commerce, and their existing dealer network (i.e. fly shops). That’s on top of Orvis ending circulation of their long standing print catalogs in 2024.
Phew, that was a lot. Which gets me to thinking…
Why don’t these two brands team up?
Maybe it’s some sort of sacrilege to have two northeastern heritage outdoor brands partner with each other. Vermont (Orvis) vs. Maine (L.L. Bean), is such a rivalry a thing in 2025? And if so, should it still be?
Let me be clear, I’m not talking merger. I’d actually hate to see that. The homogenization of Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops is an example of where one plus one unfortunately still only equals one. No, these two brands need to keep doing what each does best.
Fitting the puzzle pieces together…
If Orvis is going to lean into fly fishing and hunting and ditch their lifestyle clothing, and L.L. Bean is going to still offer fishing and other outdoor gear, albeit in a frankly generically boring private label way, it sounds like a partnership between the two could be a match made in heaven… or at least New England.
L.L. Bean could theoretically start and grow a fly fishing (and possibly hunting) dealer relationship with Orvis. They could carry the Orvis flagship fly rods and reels in their stores and online to regain some of the outdoor gear cred they had once upon a time. They already have a very light offering of third-party products, but none with the name recognition of Helios, CFO, or Battenkill. L.L. Bean could add Orvis, and while doing so, also give a long thought to whether or not the R&D resources spent on making their private label fly rods and reels are really worth it. Orvis Clearwater could fill a lot of that gap.
On the flip side, Orvis could consider at least seasonally offering L.L. Bean’s key lifestyle apparel, as well as other “hero” items (such as their Bean boots) to compliment other third-party brands they already carry such as Barbour. In this scenario they don’t abandon casual apparel sales all together. It would remove the need internally for Orvis to continue to design non-technical outdoor clothing (which they appear to be doing now anyway), but not miss out on summer swimwear and winter sweater & slipper seasons.
Oh, and I guess if L.L. Bean wants to continue printing seasonal catalogs, that could fill an advertising visibility gap for Orvis outdoor products as well.
Heck, if inventory carry is the concern, they don’t even need to partner from a physical retail standpoint. Just do it from an e-commerce standpoint. There are all sorts of ways to digitally integrate each brand’s products on each other’s web platforms so orders flow for drop shipment fulfillment to the end customer. It’s invisible to the customer, but incremental sales for the brands.
Now I’m sure there’s 1000 reasons not to do this!
- Neither would want to enable what they view as a longtime competitor
- A partnership could be a huge distraction to their core businesses
- Fly shops that carry Orvis could be pissed at expanded distribution
- Perhaps Orvis views themselves “above” L.L. Bean from a target demographic
- I’m looking at this through mostly fly fishing tinted glasses
- Maybe they just don’t want to wrestle over who sources the dog beds…
I don’t know… This is all just a weird outdoor retail thought that popped into my head regarding two brands I’ve always been a fan of. And to be honest, I’m not even sure what compelled me to write this longer than typical entry. This is practically a 5th (or maybe 3rd) grade book report. I guess it’s what happens when you haven’t fished for a while. Do with it what you may.
And if executives from L.L. Bean and Orvis are out there reading this while knocking back far too many bourbons, (or whatever they drink in boardrooms), and think it’s a good idea and need some consulting services… Well, you know where to find me…