Lands' End

Lands' End, Inc., headquartered in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, is a retailer of clothing, baggage, and furniture.

In fiscal 2023, 63.2% of its revenue was from online retail orders in the U.S., 7.7% of revenue was international orders, 18.3% of revenue was sales of logo apparel to businesses and schools, 7.6% of revenue was received from third-party sellers, and 3.2% of revenue was from company-operated stores. As of February 2, 2024, the company operated 26 stores.

The company is named after Land's End; after promotional materials were printed, the founder noticed the typographical error in the location of the apostrophe, but could not afford to reprint the material.

History

Lands' End began as a mail-order yachting supply company in 1963 in Chicago. It was founded by Gary Comer, along with his partners, 1963 Pan American Games gold medalist sailors Richard Stearns and Robert Halperin, and two of Stearns' employees.

In 1978, it expanded into general clothing and home furnishings, and moved to Dodgeville, Wisconsin.

In October 1986, it became a public company via an initial public offering.

In the late 1980s, Lands' End was the jersey supplier of the United States national rugby union team.

In July 1995, the company launched its website, Landsend.com.

In 2002, Sears, Roebuck and Company acquired the company for $2 billion in cash. Sears offered products by Lands' End in many of its retail stores, until 2019.

In November 2009, Lands' End launched Lands' End Canvas, which offered a more fashion-oriented selection of casual clothing for men and women. It was discontinued in 2013. The line was reintroduced in 2016 but cancelled in 2017 by the new CEO.

In 2013, the company partnered with Borderfree to display international orders in local currency.

The company began selling on Debenhams and in 2014, in its first international partnership, in House of Fraser.

In April 2014, Sears completed the corporate spin-off of the company, which once again became publicly traded.

Jerome Griffith became CEO in March 2017, succeeding Federica Marchionni.

In 2018, the company began selling on Amazon.com.

In 2018 and 2019, the company produced uniforms for employees of Delta Airlines and American Airlines.

In 2019, Lands' End closed its remaining store-within-a-store branches in Sears stores, after Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

In 2020, the company entered into a partnership with Kohl's to sell the company's products in its stores.

In 2021, the company partnered with QVC to sell its products on its website, expanded to video sales in April 2022.

Awards and recognition

In 1998, Lands' End was named among The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America by ''Fortune'' magazine.

Controversies

In 2016, feminist activist Gloria Steinem was featured in the catalog of Lands' End. After an outcry from anti-abortion customers, the company removed Steinem from its website. The company then faced further criticism, this time both from customers who were still unhappy that Steinem had been featured in the first place, and customers who were unhappy that Steinem had been removed.

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1963 establishments in Illinois
1980s initial public offerings
2014 initial public offerings
Clothing brands of the United States
Companies based in Wisconsin
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
Iowa County, Wisconsin
Mail-order retailers
Online retailers of the United States
Retail companies established in 1963