Not many products out there are great. The orignal gets made cheaper and cheaper for more profit and poor quality rip offs also start appearing. Not so with the L L Bean Tote. I have a half dozen that are about 40 years old. There are a few wear holes starting in some and they are stained from a zillion spills. . Rather than send them back for warrentee' I purchased eight nice new ones in three different colors. Its nice to know that I will be over 100 years old when I again need to reorder.
I have several of these Bean totes in medium and extra large, and I had to write a review because my totes have been in use for more than 20 years at this point. They are still in great shape! I haul veggies from the CSA, groceries from the store, dozens of library books, paperwork and stuff for work, you name it. I once forgot some veggies in one of the bags and things got moldy, so I took it outside and washed it with dish soap and a scrub brush and let it dry in the sun. Good as new and the canvas still has lots of body (I was afraid that washing it might make it soft and floppy, but it didn't). Even with more than 20 years of hard wear, there is very little fraying on the bottom and handles.
The heavy-duty construction stabilizes the load, and I love the fact that the totes stand up when they are empty or nearly empty rather than collapsing in a heap on the floor. I can't say enough wonderful things about these bags! I'm buying myself another one as a work bag.
I love LL Bean totes.. I just ordered 2 custom totes, a medium and an XL, to match another I had made last fall, a large.. they finally had the same 2 colors I had used back then, olive green body and pocket, and regatta blue bottom and straps w/monogramming. I keep wanting to order more and more, but I have to stop myself.. I highly recommend these totes.. I love all of them, zip top/open top, long handles/short handles, all colors.. I want them all! I own all sizes now, and couldn't be happier with them. I use the medium zip top as a purse when out and about for the day, and small for all my magazines, its the perfect size to store them!
I purchased an ember color boat bag. The quality for the boat bag is 5 stars but the thread color for the matching monogram ruins the look of the bag. The colors clash. The recommended thread color listed for the monogram is salmon. This is an unacceptable color choice for the beautiful coral color boat bag. There really isn't any complimentary thread choice available. If you buy a boat tote in this color don't get it monogramed. I sorry I paid to have my boat bag monogramed.
