Do These Classic L.L. Bean Bean Boots Still Stand Up?

An iconic product with a timeless look

First built in 1912, L.L. Bean’s iconic Bean Boots were then called the Maine Hunting Shoe, but have since adopted more colloquial catch-alls: Bean Boots or Duck Boots, for short. (They’re really just rain boots, though.) The brand’s founder, Leon Leonwood Bean, first stitched them together for his own journeys, but eventually sold 100 pairs to close friends and family members — as well as others in Maine. He grew tired of traditional boots that’d get soggy in the sole, therefore combining the comfortability of rubber-soled shoes with the durability promised by leather uppers.

As the story famously goes, though, 90 of the first 100 boots sold were returned. As early prototypes, they came without Bean’s now-famous triple-line stitching finish, which secures the rubber outsole to the leather upper. Those early pairs came apart, but this incident spurred perhaps the brand’s most popular design feature — maybe behind the duckbill toe, though.

Finding the correct size is a game of trial and error

Finding the right size is a complex riddle: “With light or mid-weight socks,” the brand says, “Whole sizes, order one size down. Half sizes, order 1.5 size down. Example: 9 or 9.5, order a size 8. With heavyweight socks: Whole sizes, order your normal size. Half sizes, order one size down. Example: 9 or 9.5, order a size 9.”

I, for one, went with my usual size: a US 12. I figured I’d only wear these with thick socks, or, so what I thought constituted as thick socks. (Maybe I should’ve stayed in-brand.) Even with my thicker boot socks, these felt a little big, cementing my statement that even with brand guidance, you might end up with boots that are a little big.