My parents are in town this week and I took them to Freeport for the first time for some hardcore shopping. Obviously we hit up L.L. Bean and my dad picked up his first pair of Bean boots. In his case, it's an entirely practical purchase as opposed to keeping up with Maine fashion - as a carpenter, he needs to fit his winter boots into tight spaces like ladder steps and crevices on the roof. Bean boots are special in that they're nice and warm for your feet while not being super bulky.

Once we got home though, the struggle commenced. My dad was sitting in the corner for a solid ten minutes trying to lace up his boots. We didn't take notice at first, but when my boyfriend Andrew came in and began helping him figure it out, I had to video it. How hard can this be?! Turns out, they were attempting to involve holes in the tongue of the boot into the lacing process, which didn't seem to make sense to them. Their process was hilariously contemplative:

I kid you not, this discussion ended in a call to L.L. Bean to sort out what purpose those extra lace holes served. After some research on the other end and a call back, we were told the holes are solely used for fashion options. The L.L. Bean website demonstrates the style:

llbean.com
llbean.com
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See those little holes on the tongue? Those holes were what was causing all this strife. What brought more stress to my dad was the fact that people spend good money on these fancy fuzz-lined boots only to fold the insulated part out, letting all the heat escape. Needless to say, he favors practicality over fashion (what dad doesn't?) but at least his case is closed! We won't get into how much he hated the Eastland knot trend...

 

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