How to Save Lands’ End
One of my favorite brands is owned by a company that’s tanking, and I don’t want to see it die.
I love Lands’ End clothes.
Well, loved. In 2002, they were purchased for $2 billion in cash by Sears, a company that seems to be imploding in slow-motion, both financially and perceptually. Since then, their quality has dropped precipitously as the formerly top-tier clothier adjusts to its position as a sister company to K-mart.
When you hear the name “Sears,” what do you think of? Probably the same thing that I do: Department store ambience. The color brown. Clothes and appliances. Stores with a particular smell (which JC Penney seems to share, incidentally). This is a company that so misunderstands its own brand that, in a tragically misguided effort to win over teen shoppers, paid the team behind High School Musical to create a Sears-themed movie. (Yes, really.)
Lands’ End, on the other hand, is a respected brand of high-end nautical/preppy clothes. Until recently, the quality of their work was very high, and they had a well-defined aesthetic in which they had significant mindshare.
What do Lands’ End and Sears have in common? Next to nothing, except that now you have to wander through a dingy Sears to find half-bare racks of their clothes. The experience that surrounded the Lands’ End brand has been utterly destroyed. In its desperation to restore itself to glory, Sears is strangling what could’ve been one of the healthiest parts of its empire.
They say that a drowning man will grasp frantically at anything nearby, sometimes even drowning his rescuer in his primal attempts to claw his way up to safety. It’s an apt metaphor.
A Modest Proposal
L.L. Bean should buy Lands’ End.
Both cater to similar demographics, and each specialize in a different side of the same market. L.L. Bean is outdoor-oriented and casual, and covers the woodsier side of the preppy crowd. Lands’ End is tailored to indoor- and outdoor-ready business casual, and is predominantly nautical themed. Together, they could supply the entire wardrobe for a certain type of buyer.
I haven’t worked out the financials behind such a merger, but I imagine the combined company would become a juggernaut in its category.
L.L. Bean would gain a valuable partner. Lands’ End would salvage its dignity and return to quality. Sears would make some money (it has a net income of -$930 million for fiscal year 2013) and have an opportunity to start refocusing on the things that made it great in the first place.
Think about it, board members. Think about it.
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