Todd Snyder's New L.L. Bean Collab Is a Balance of City and Country Vibes

Todd Snyder has a long history with L.L. Bean. Although the New York designer is by no means a Maine-ah, he's come to love his frequent collaborator's home state. (For those who don't know, L.L. Bean was founded in Freeport, Maine in 1912 by Leon Leonwood Bean.)

This is the third time the duo's collaborated on a collection of clothing and accessories — and the original one, which debuted in fall 2020, was L.L. Bean's first-ever of the sort. But over time, their collaboration's become less about balancing their brands and more about creating something wholly new — a fusion of their aesthetics, for sure, but also about designing garments people can actually wear in the great outdoors.

“I was thinking about the warm-weather styles that a guy would wear for a beach hike during the day and then to relax by a campfire at night,” Snyder says. Nods to L.L. Bean's history remain — like Leonwood Bean's book cover manifesting as a patch for the jackets — but the collection also serves as encouragement for the modern wearer.

"Leon Leonwood Bean understood the restorative power of nature, and he wanted to create the gear that allowed people to enjoy themselves in the wild," Snyder says. "He has a wonderful line in his book that kind of says it all: ‘To my mind hunting and fishing is the big lure that takes us into the great open spaces and teaches us to forget the mean and petty things of life.’"

The collection's filled with statement-making pieces in eye-popping colors — try pastel pink, neon yellow, a soft teal or a campy olive green — but functional stuff, too. Snyder designed his own recycled nylon climbing shorts, a suite of rainproof anoraks and even a 3-in-1 bag that can be quickly transformed from a backpack to a tote and then back into a shoulder bag. Lots of longstanding classics have been carried over, too, albeit approached through Snyder's lens: plenty of trusty plaid shirts, trucker hats, graphic tees and cargo pants.