Lands' End and Style: Oxymoronic?

A couple of weeks back when I mentioned the Lands' End event, A Proper Bostonian challenged me in a comment on that post to explain how Lands' End's offerings are stylish:

Style and Land's End seem kind of contradictory, don't you think? All I've ever found there is fleece and all the spouse ever found were ugly but practical weatherproof shoes. I look forward to your rebuttal!

This is a valid point, and I thought that discussing it in a regular post would expose it to more readers than just continuing the discussion in the comments area of the original post.

The first thing I think I should mention is that the word "style" originated in the email I received from Lands' End, and I was reusing it out of convenience. I never really bothered to consider the implications of the word in this context.

I'm fairly certain that the people at Lands' End are aware that their company's offerings are widely perceived as unstylish, or even anti-style, and I don't necessarily disagree with that point of view. I do think that one reason they decided to launch the Canvas line was to attempt to dispel this idea. (I'm also pretty sure L.L. Bean's competing Signature line had something to do with it.) There also seems to be a pretty significant J. Crew feel to the Canvas selection, which is even more pronounced when you see the clothes in person. Given the popularity of J. Crew's stuff and the company's performance over the past several years, this is not at all surprising.

But even with Lands' End's standard line, you can make an argument that anti-style is a style choice. Some people, both men and women, just don't care that much about clothes; some can't be bothered with shopping in stores. I know people like this, and LE is one of the places they go to stock up quickly and easily. Value is also part of it: the less you care about clothes, the less money you are going to want to spend on them.

I think people go to the office every day in khakis and a plain button-front shirt because they want to blend in. I see dozens of them every day on the T, especially men. A typical guy wants to look presentable with minimum effort, and wants clothes that aren't going to embarrass him. Some people aren't even comfortable wearing a striped shirt instead of a solid one. That's unfortunate, and I feel bad for them, but it's their choice.

I just bought a madras shirt from Lands' End. It's not quite as boring as a light blue dress shirt; it's a plaid called "light teal," but the dominant color is a berry red, with teal, white, and a little blue. It's colorful and summery without being loud, and it has a certain Leave It to Beaver prep/nerd vibe that I like in my short-sleeve plaid shirts.

Sometimes a person just needs a nudge. Lands' End does offer pretty good choices of colors for its products, and changing up the color scheme a bit is an easy way to inject some flair into your everyday outfits. But ultimately, LE is never going to be considered stylish. Their basic line fills a need for many people, and Canvas is offering a variation on the framework with some added distinction. Maybe some of the customers who buy from the regular line will find their way to Canvas.

I've seen a few pictures on style blogs of some of the forthcoming pieces from the fall Canvas collection, and it looks promising. If anyone from Lands' End is reading and wants to invite me to see the collection in person, I would happily write it up.