To the dogs! At least that is what my Girl Scout Troop in Madison, Wisconsin decided to do with it. The idea actually originated from a co-worker (and dog lover!) in the women’s division who realized the stretchy and durable swim fabric would make a great tug toy for her canine friends.

When Erin, the swim merchant, told me about Anna’s design, I immediately went into Girl Scout Leader mode and thought my girls would love to do that. And what great timing as our visit to the Dane County Humane Society in Madison was just a week away (and May is also National Pet Month). As the girls arrived at the troop meeting, they found hundreds of colorful strips strewn across the table. Of course, they all asked what we were going to do with those.

“We’re making dog toys to donate to the Humane Society.”

Instant smiles. After a quick demonstration, the girls got right to work. Strips were flying as the bright colors and patterns were woven together. Each combination more fun than the next. At final count, the girls had created 40 dog toys! And although they’ll never meet the recipients of their unique gifts or receive any gratitude firsthand (or paw in this case), the fun they had was thanks enough.

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The trees are in bloom, and lunch is al fresco today.

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“Gabby sporting her Lands’ End Squall Jacket while walking to the beach in Norway.”

Not long ago we received an email from a Lands’ End fan named Jack Viorel. He wanted to share some pictures of his daughter loving her Lands’ End Squall jacket. In his email, Jack also mentioned he runs a small surf school called Indo Jax Surf School.

As big fans of all things aquatic, we wanted to see what Jack was up to. While “surfing” around his website, we were inspired on many levels. And especially at Jack’s motto.

“We are nothing if we don’t give back!”

Well said.

“Jack and Gabby enjoying a balmy Northern Norway afternoon on the Arctic Ocean.”

Last year, Jack and his daughter, Gabby, traveled the world (all 4 oceans!) providing free surf camps for children in need (or with special needs). They worked with orphaned children in India, blind children in Wrightsville, NC., autistic children in Northern Cali, and refugees in Northern Norway – to name a few.

And yesterday we received another email from Jack and Gabby. They recently returned from their 4^th trip to India.

“We surfed with nearly 100 orphan girls this year from 4 orphanages on both the west and east coasts of India.”

It sounds like the 2013 surf season is officially here for Jack and Gabby and we look forward to hearing more about their coastal endeavors throughout the next few months.

Here’s to a long, fun, beach season for everyone, everywhere in the creative, generous, inspired, endlessly fascinating Lands’ End family.

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We learned that in England, a sweater is called a jumper. And that in Japan, customers are crazy for embroidery – over 60% of the polo shirts we send out have a gymnast, dolphin, flag or other insignia on the chest.

But what happened in Germany tops everything. It had to do with our unequivocal guarantee – Guaranteed. Period.® – which is the very foundation of the way we do business.

You see, our founder Gary Comer didn’t believe in fine print. He believed in doing business in a fair and open-handed way, and doing whatever it took to provide 100% satisfaction. Like offering a guarantee with absolutely no limits.

So naturally, when we mailed out our first catalogs in Germany, they contained our Guaranteed. Period promise of satisfaction, inviting our new German customers to return anything at any time, for any reason, if they were not completely satisfied with what they’d ordered from us.

Well, much to our surprise, the bratwurst hit the fan. A group of 1600 German merchants called The Association Against Unfair Competition sued Lands’ End, claiming that our unconditional guarantee violating a German law that banned retailers from offering gifts to lure customers.

It wasn’t just neighborhood merchants fuming and sputtering. “There are a lot of huge companies who are hiding behind this association,” said Frank Kriegl, at the time our marketing director in Germany.

Lands’ End refused to back down. In fact, we launched an advertising campaign to win supporters to our just cause. Ganz Deutschland ist eine Servicewueste? asked one ad. Is all of Germany a service wasteland?
Alas, the merchant association won their suit when the German Supreme Court ruled that our promise was indeed a violation of German law. But still, we wouldn’t back down.

Phil Young, our European managing director, stressed that the ban would not affect how we treated our German customers. “This antiquated law will no longer allow us to communicate our guarantee to our German custom-ers,” said Phil, “but regardless of this, every single product we sell in Germany will be backed by our guarantee.”

We began running cheeky ads elsewhere in Europe, with headlines like:
“Introducing a guarantee so good the Germans banned it.” In Germany, we just blacked out the “guarantee” part of our ads, stirring up even more interest in the whole brouhaha. And in 1999, we launched the German version of our web site, which couldn’t mention the guarantee, but linked to a separate site that did. German customers began rallying to our cause.

The Association Against Unfair Competition was clearly on the wrong side of the fight, especially as the age of internet shopping picked up steam. Eventually, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s government revoked the antiquated 1932 law prohibiting discounts, rebates and lifetime guarantees.

Just like that, the great Guaranteed. Period. controversy in Germany was kaput. We began telling our complete and unexpurgated Lands’ End story again. And our business has been growing in Deutschland ever since.

The customer is always right, as Gary Comer might say.

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It’s well known that primitive man did not wear pants. This saved laundry time but exposed him to endless nicks and cuts when chasing lunch through the primeval woods and was a distraction to coworkers when he got up in front of meetings to draw powerpoint slides on cave walls.

When chinos came around, primitive man was so happy he bought them in seven colors, which looked real sharp to primitive woman, and they lived happily ever after.

In his dreams.

Actually chinos were popularized in the 1800s, by which time man was (only slightly) less primitive. The Brit’s borrowed the idea from troops in India, but early chinos were stiff and wrinkled and coarse and dull in color, so clothiers improved them and improved them and improved them some more until the ultimate chinos were finally arrived at, and these are those.

With broken-in comfort, multiple fits, wrinkle-free fabrics, endless utility and expectations met. Guaranteed. Period.®

There’s even a comfort waist that expands and contracts, depending upon whether you catch your lunch in the primeval woods today.

Either way, you’ll look great in the attempt.

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“I’d like you to think about a little place out back where we could all work out,” said our founder Gary Comer one day to Milt Martinson, the Green Bay architect who had designed most of the Lands’ End office buildings in Dodgeville.

Well, things had a way of sprouting up like corn at Lands’ End back in those days, and a couple years later – February 24, 1989 to be exact – we all found ourselves standing around an Olympic-sized swimming pool, celebrating the dedication of the brand new Lands’ End Activity Center.

It had turned out to be more than a “little place out back.”  A whopping 80,000 square feet, the new center had a gym, 1/8th  mile indoor track, racquetball courts and a plethora of exercise equipment in addition to the
75-meter pool.

“I’ve been to every major corporate health facility in the country, and this is the best of them all,” commented Ray Squires of the Mayo Clinic, on a visit to the new Lands’ End center the week before it opened.

But as we stood around the pool that day, most of us were feeling more impressed with the size of Gary Comer’s heart than we were with the size of the Activity Center. The founder of Lands’ End cared about his employees – we’d always known that from the time he spent with all of us – but this new facility was further evidence.

The usual speeches were given, all of them heartfelt, some of them more interesting than others. Most touching was one from Sam Fink, a legendary advertising art director who had known Gary for over thirty years.

“Gary is a dreamer,” said Sam. “He dreamt and he dreamt, and this is what he dreamt.” Sam spread his arms wide, seemingly to encompass the whole activity center.

Gary had asked Sam if there was anything he could do to decorate the new center, Sam being an artist of no small repute. Sam answered, “What you oughta’ do is honor all the people who work for you, because I know you love them.” Gary told Sam he could do anything he wanted, to accomplish that.

So when all the speechifying was over, Gary cut the ribbon for the new Activity Center, and a banner fell away to reveal Sam’s handiwork. There were 1,400 names hand-lettered by Sam on the pool wall tiles – the names of every permanent full-time and part-time employee at Lands’ End at that time, along with this inscription:

These are the names of the people whose daily work and good spirit at Lands’ End have made this building possible. It is dedicated to them and their continued good health.

“Years from now, you can come with your kids and your grandkids, show them your name, and tell them you were a part of all this,” said Gary.

What we remember most from the dedication ceremony was what happened after Gary cut the ribbon. A couple boisterous (and brave) employees tossed him into the new pool, necktie and all.

Gary flipped onto his back, swam gracefully halfway down the lane, then turned over and finished out the length freestyle. Not Mark Spitz, but not bad. He emerged in soaking Oxford and khakis, to wild applause. Walked along the end of the pool, shaking a few hands, then jumped up on the diving board, did a graceful swan dive, and swam another length!

We’ve all swam our share of laps since then, and sweated buckets on the stair-climbers and treadmills and weight machines. Some of our kids have learned how to swim in that pool, and started a lifelong love of exercise. A few past Presidents of the company have even joined in the fiercely-contested noontime basketball games, throwing up their share of wild treys.

Just as Gary intended, we’ve had a ton of fun in the Activity Center – now appropriately called the Comer Center. And every time we go there, we can still see him paddling in the pool, his knit tie floating on top of the water, a happy grin on his face.

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Alfred Lunt & Lynn Fontanne

Before Brad & Angelina, before Liz & Dick, there was Lunt & Fontanne. Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne ruled the Broadway stage from the 1920s through the 1950s and are still considered the greatest acting team in the history of American theater. During their successful career they had two conditions: they only chose plays in which both of them had a role, and they took off every summer to stay at their home in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin – a place they called Ten Chimneys.

Main House of 10 Chimneys

It was a brilliantly sunny spring day when I took the two-hour drive from Dodgeville, Wisconsin, to the Lunt’s home in Southeastern Wisconsin. Even though the property was experiencing the end of a long winter’s thaw, its beauty and tranquility were apparent. Randy Bryant, president and chief executive officer of the Ten Chimneys Foundation, offered that if there is only one takeaway he’d like visitors to get from visiting the property it would be the Lunts’ “art of living.” After touring the buildings and walking the grounds, I had no doubt that the Lunts had impeccable taste and lived their lives with integrity.

Alfred Lunt lived in Genesee Depot as a child, and when he came into an inheritance at age 21 he purchased the first three acres of what would eventually consist of the main house, a rustic studio, a cottage, gardens, an L-shaped pool, a pool house, a greenhouse and a gentleman’s farm.

Greenhouse in fall.

Alfred and Lynn retreated to Wisconsin every summer to recharge, workshop, collaborate and socialize with many young actors that they mentored.  An invitation to this Wisconsin haven was significant and was an indication that the theater artist had “arrived.” Guests to the compound included Sir Lawrence (“Larry”) Olivier, Vivian Leigh, Katharine Hepburn, Montgomery Clift, Helen Hayes, Carol Channing and the playwright and friend of the Lunts, Noël Coward. Visitors also included directors, designers, writers and artists. Ten Chimneys was a place of creation, discussion and inspiration, as well as a great meal.  Alfred Lunt was famous for his cooking, and he eagerly shared with his guests and staff.

Dining Room

It was in this small Wisconsin town where the Lunts helped develop a radical shift in American theater.  They helped transform it from an exaggerated style to a naturalism way of acting that attempts to recreate the impression of reality using overlapping dialogue, more truthful acting, and realistic set designs.

The estate takes its name from the total of ten chimneys present on the grounds. As a historic property the estate was exceptionally well preserved, since the Lunt’s original furnishings, decorations and personal items were barely touched from the time of Lynn’s death until the creation of the Ten Chimneys Foundation. However, wallpaper was peeling, garden walls were crumbling and pathways had to be cleared. Mr. Byrant and his staff of over 200 volunteers are challenged with maintaining the integrity of the property while assuring visitors are made to feel like just another guest of the legendary Lunts.

Upon entering the main house, you are at the foot of a grand spiral staircase in an entryway that is filled with murals created by Claggett Wilson. You are immediately immersed in the Lunts’ desire to set the stage for their visitors with elegant furnishings and decorating. As one weaves from room to room, you discover that each is decorated with a sense of drama and warmth. In the Drawing Room is the Noël Coward piano that is still kept in tune for cabaret nights that the Foundation holds. The third floor is where the bedrooms are located.  Noël Coward, Sir Lawrence Olivier and Helen Hayes were such frequent guests that they each had a bedroom named after them. Katharine Hepburn, according to Mr. Bryant, would often arrive at the home uninvited, an inconvenience the Lunts would graciously work around.

“Every time I was visiting with the Lunts in Genesee Depot I was in a sort of daze of wonder; the dining room, the table, the china, the silver, the food, the extraordinary care and beauty and taste … a sort of dream, a vision.” Katharine Hepburn

The other buildings on the estate each have distinct personalities: the “cottage,” which is almost as large as the Main House, is decorated with Finnish designs, a nod to where Alfred Lunt lived as a child. The rustic cabin, a favorite stay of Montgomery Clift, also served as a place of rehearsals. The greenhouse and chicken coop were stone buildings that fit comfortably with living quarters. And, of course, the L- shaped swimming pool – once the deepest pool in the state of Wisconsin.

“The Lunts were my friends. They were my idols, my teachers, my mentors. I think of all the lucky things that happened to me in my life in the theatre, the Lunts were the luckiest.” Helen Hayes

When the Lunts lived at Ten Chimneys, it was a working farm, where they grew vegetables and raised poultry to be consumed in their home and to be shared with their staff and neighbors. In the summer of 2013, the estate’s farm will be restored, and the harvest will be donated to local food banks by the Foundation, following in the Lunt’s tradition of generosity.

As a National Historic Landmark estate, Ten Chimneys is open to the public as a historic residence and national resource for theater, arts and arts education. It hosts the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Master Class, honoring their history of mentoring. In the summer of 2013, Alan Alda will act as the Master Teacher instructing ten professional theater actors in an immersion experience on the grounds of Ten Chimneys. There will also be a one-night only program highlighting the actors chosen for this class and it will be open to the public.

If you are a fan of old Broadway or historic preservation, the two-hour tour of Ten Chimneys is for you. The tours are in small groups no larger than ten people. Nothing is roped off, nothing is under glass to feel as though you truly are a guest in the Lunts’ famous home.

Estate Tours of Ten Chimneys are offered May through November, Tuesday through Saturday. (262) 968-4110.

Includes photos by Ten Chimneys Staff © Ten Chimneys Foundation
Vintage photos by Warren O’Brien from the O’Brien Family Collection at WHS.

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If you’re like most people, the American Midwest is not the first place that pops to mind when you think of sailing. But from the skyscraper canyons of Chicago to the rolling farmland of Wisconsin, hundreds of fanatical heartland sailors as well as those from around the United States and overseas anxiously await the Chicago to Mackinac race on Lake Michigan, held every year in July.

Known as the “Mac”, the 333-mile race from Chicago to Mackinac Island is the world’s longest freshwater race on the planet’s third largest fresh water lake. It’s always been near and dear to our hearts at Lands’ End, since we got our start as a sailing hardware business in Chicago in 1963, and have sailed the Mac ourselves many times. (Admittedly, often as “rail meat,” a crew member who sits on the rail most of the race, using his or her weight to help keep the boat flat or induce heel in light air.)

“Sailing in Lake Michigan is not like sailing in a mill pond,” says Randy Adolphs, a long-time sailing buddy of our company founder Gary Comer. Randy has sailed the Mac four times, and has two transatlantic crossings under his belt as well as sails across the Red Sea, the Mediterranean and a run from the Galapagos to Easter Island. He knows first hand the punches that Lake Michigan can throw. “It’s very comparable to ocean racing,” he says. “I remember one year Ted Turner entered in a boat called American Eagle. It blew 40 to 50 miles per hour. Needless to say, Ted was impressed.”

No kidding. That was back in 1970, and it was one of the most treacherous Macs since the first race in 1898. The 13-foot seas battered the 167 boats and crippled 88 of them—broken masts, wrecked gear, ripped sails, injuries and fatigue took their toll on the most famous race in the middle of America.

In the Hard Blow of 1937, only eight yachts out of 42 made it to the finish at the Round Island Lighthouse off Mackinac Island. Of course, Mother Nature can throw curve balls in the other direction, as well. Last year was one of the most lethargic Mac races on record, with so little wind that “half the fleet didn’t arrive by the Tuesday afternoon awards ceremony,” says Rick Lillie, chairman of the Mackinac committee and a member of the Chicago Yacht Club since 1989. In case you were wondering, the current uncorrected course record—before handicapping for vessel size—is held by Roy Disney (Walt’s brother) aboard Pyewacket. His time? 23 hours, 30 minutes and 24 seconds.

“The longer the race the shorter the boat becomes,” says Lillie, “and many are happy to get off of it.”

Fortunately for Mac sailors there is the Pink Pony bar located within convenient stumbing distance of the wharf. “Sailing is a sport that involves a fair amount of bragging and storytelling,” says Lillie, “and during the first beer the waves on the voyage were two feet. By the fifth or sixth beer, they become eight feet.”

What happens if sailors arrive in the wee hours of the morning and the Pink Pony is shuttered up? Lillie says most sailors are prepared for such a dreadful emergency: “On board we carry a short supply of what we refer to as an ‘arrival beverage,’ which is usually Mount Gay Rum.”

Of course, he adds, “we keep it under lock and key.”

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In a snow-covered hayfield next to a rural highway in southern Wisconsin, a little gray mouse goes about its business foraging for sustenance 6-inches below the white blanket. He is, as the saying goes, as quiet as a mouse. Unfortunately for the mouse, that’s not quiet enough.

Perched on an old utility pole about 20-feet high and 30-feet away from the tiny rodent, a Great Gray Owl has heard the “ruckus,” thanks to a large facial “disk” that serves to amplify minute sounds by funneling them to the ears. His round yellow eyes appear to be glowing against his gray-brown plumage.

The big bird practically lunges from his roost and swoops towards the seemingly lifeless patch of snow. With a wingspan of nearly five feet, you’d expect some commotion to accompany his attack. But his movements are eerily and completely silent.

Stranger still is that this stately owl is at least 350-miles outside his normal range. He is one of a handful of Great Gray Owls that have been spotted around Madison, WI, about an hour’s drive from our Dodgeville headquarters.

Back in Canada, where the big raptors normally lord over dense forests and wide prairies, there is a low supply of the owls’ most common prey – voles and other small rodents.

So the owls are showing up in unlikely places, from the Twin Cities to as far south as Janesville, WI. Curiously, the Grays don’t appear to be uneasy in more urban environments. But because they fly extremely low to the ground, they’re vulnerable to car collisions.

From about 10-feet above the otherwise-bleak landscape, the Great Gray folds up his wings slightly, talons tucked neatly under his chin, and dives headfirst into a narrow band of snow.

He shakes off the snow and surveys his surroundings. With no discernible change in demeanor, he momentarily contemplates the little mouse in his talons. The Great Gray Ghost has traveled far for this. Selfishly, perhaps, we hope he’ll stay. A moment later, he’s gone.

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