Lands End Redefining? - YouLookFab Forum

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Lands End Redefining?

Thistle

Veteran

I purchase a majority of our winter outerwear from Land's End or LL Bean as I need pieces good for snow and capable of withstanding temperatures regularly -25F and many times colder yet with wind chill.

As I was looking for a winter coat for DD1, I spied their new collection and was quite impressed with some of the pieces.

Until I clicked through and discovered they don't carry them in XL any more.

It wasn't limited to one piece, so I wonder if they are moving away from their more inclusive sizing to a more Club Monoco sizing with a change in their style as well.

Shopping

19 replies

Latest reply was from E

viva

Veteran

That would seem like a very strange direction for them. They are what I consider to be a realistic brand - I hope they don't lose that.

em

That would be stupid of them.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I just looked at LE and saw XL sizes, Thistle. Which styles were you thinking of?

LE sizes are big to begin with - and XS fits like an M from Club Monaco. At least a size bigger than the industry norm - sometimes two. That said, I hope they keep the XL in ALL their items.

Daria

Indeed, the new fall collection does run up to L. I do however agree with Angie that their sizes run very big, and XXS is not available for most items.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Daria, I've just clicked on 4 more new arrivals - all go up to an XL. Where are you seeing the smaller size curve?

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

I think the sizing is different on their new Classics collection:

http://www.landsend.com/a/wome.....-hp-womens

Really loving those pieces, too.

Elly

Veteran

Sure enough-- Jenn's link leads to a bunch of items that only come in L--

Daria

Angie, pretty much everything I clicked on this page only goes up to L:
http://www.landsend.com/a/wome.....-hp-womens
Not everything is offered in XXS by the way..

MuseumGal

Veteran

No plus sizes in that line either. Bummer, I really like the denim dress.

catseye

Veteran

It seems to be a special collection. Not to replace the classic Lands End. Probably similar to the Lands End Canvas sizing.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Everything goes to an XL when you click the site here:

http://www.landsend.com

Very odd.

Sara L.

Veteran

Angie - If you go to Cara's Picks (on the far right of the menu) - everything only goes to L. The Lands End Classic stuff still goes to XL.

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Veteran

I don't remember where I read the details or I would link, but LE is retooling. IIRC they are re-separating themselves financially from Sears after the acquisition a few years ago, and the new investors want a bit of a refresh. You can tell from the slightly different font of the logo etc. It'll be interesting to see how much they move away from the practical/gear end of things where they've always been solid, and into more fashion-y stuff. They've always done well in gear, but the quality of everyday clothing has been inconsistent for the last few years. I believe they have an ad in the September In Style, long haired model in a cream colored wool fisherman sweater, very J Crew or Ralph Lauren, classic Americana sturdy, but framed differently to appeal to a younger demographic, the kind of people who have been buying Anthropologie and Madewell.

Thistle

Veteran

There's always LL Bean if they decide they don't want to sell my size any more.

Here were the ones I was interested in and none come in XL. I clicked on some others, and some did and some didn't. Too bad that they finally get me to click through on non-gear and then don't sell my size.

http://www.landsend.com/produc.....474?sku_0=::619

http://www.landsend.com/produc.....477?sku_0=::619

http://www.landsend.com/produc.....478?sku_0=::KAT

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Thanks, Sara. NOW I get it. That's not good. *sad face*

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Veteran

As a fellow XL-wearer, I agree with your aggravation, Thistle. I haven't bought much from them in recent years just because I'd been doing something different style-wise from 'practical preppy' which had been my thing for so long. But one of their selling points had always been that they did the full range of sizes - petite, misses and plus - in almost everything. I hope that they can continue to do that as much as possible.

I tried to find the article I'd read and so far no luck. According to Wikipedia, Sears spun LE back off as its own company and it started trading separately last year. But there was something about new management that happened in the last few months, more recently than that.

ETA: found it! They got a new CEO this spring, who had previously been the president of Dolce & Gabbana USA.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/0.....index.html

This article from Fortune last month talks more specifically about the changes LE plans to make, I think this was the article I was remembering having read:

http://fortune.com/2015/07/27/.....-strategy/

Maureen

Wow quite a jump in their prices especially with the Canuck buck so low.

Thistle

Veteran

Laura - I read both articles, and find it interesting that the CEO is from Dolce Gabana. Looks like limiting sizes was one of the first things she did. It will be interesting to see if they keep their plus size lines and if XL will get phased out of more of the line. Must be appealing to other moms shopping for kids uniforms.

Guess I am just feeling cranky as I used to be able to get nice pieces for my winter months there as they were originally out of Dodgeville Wisconsin so they understood cold and true cold weather sweaters. I might still be able to, but it's frustrating when you don't know if the sweater you like is made in your size.

E

Veteran

I'm sorry Thistle. That really sucks & you have the total right to feel cranky. What's weird is that if they're rebranding to catch shoppers like me (I buy quite a bit of secondhand Anthro), I'm sized out too. Which made me cranky last fall, when I moved up north & looked at LL Bean & Lands End and discovered none of their coats would fit me. Luckily my vintage coats were heavy enough that I didn't need to buy a puffer in the end.