In touch - Saint Joseph's College of Maine

Behind the
scene at L.L. Bean
by Charmaine Daniels
J ames Gott ’90 spends a lot of time looking
at what people wear. He scrutinizes details, like
a shirt’s back yoke line, the size of a pocket,
or the length of a placket. As the senior product
developer for men’s apparel at L.L. Bean,
he launches new items in a product line that
changes 20 to 30 percent each year. “I set the
vision and keep everything in motion,” he says
of developing new men’s clothing.
Motion proves an apt description of his fast-paced job guiding
the work of 15 departments juggling 30 to 40 new or updated
products over a period up to a year. He and his team work with
the design team, the fitting team, the creative team, the testing
team, the merchandising team, and the retail team, just to name a
few. Months of creating samples takes an intense focus on fabric
development, including trips to the Far East or Latin America
to meet with vendors.
To do his job, he has to know how fabric is made in Portugal
(where a craftsman still brushes flannel for the shirts by hand),
how to position a product at the right price, and even how a
shirt should ultimately be packaged. Throughout the process,
Gott reports progress to upper management.
“I’m involved in every step of the way,” he says.
His favorite part of the job The firefight. That’s when
department teams bombard him with thorny product questions
and he has to calmly troubleshoot their concerns. He answers
all their questions in stride, and takes full accountability for
how he decides to address an obstacle.
“It’s when I feel like I’m really contributing to L. L. Bean,”
he says.
10 S A I N T J O S E P H ’ S C O L L E G E M A G A Z I N E