Betting that a high percentage of its female customers lead active lives, Freeport, ME-based outdoor apparel and home goods cataloger L.L. Bean has spun off a women’s workout wear title. The 88-page Everyday Adventures arrived in customer’s mailboxes on Jan. 4. Company spokesperson Rich Donaldson would not disclose the size of the mailing, but says catalogs only went to house file names–no outside lists were rented.
The catalog sells women’s apparel and gear suitable for yoga, cycling, walking, and hiking. Everyday Adventures emphasizes merchandise made from “performance” fabrics, such as comfort fleece, CoolMax polyester, and Lycra elastane. Prices range from $8 for a water bottle to$149 for a soft-shell jacket; the book also sells a Schwinn Acadia Cruiser bicycle for $299.
L.L. Bean has tried a women’s spin-off before. In 1999, it launched the Freeport Studio catalog, which also targeted “active” suburban women ages 35-55, but stopped mailing the title in 2002. Everyday Adventures differs from the previous women’s book in that Freeport Studio sold apparel “to be worn from 8 to 8,” Donaldson says, including outfits suitable for work and for picking up the kids at school, as well as for evening. Everyday Adventures focuses strictly on activewear, a $17.1 billion market, according to Port Washington, NY-based market research firm NPD Group.