History & Heritage

1960's   1970's   1980's   1990's   2000's

An "all hands on deck" approach to customer service.

Lands' End was one of the first companies to begin offering a toll-free number, and in 1980 the service moved in-house. Manning a total of nine phones, a team of 23 customer sales representatives was trained to take calls 24/7. Always ready to embrace technology in order to provide the best possible customer experience, in 1982 our sales team entered the computer age, beginning to enter customer orders online.

In 1984, Lands' End founder Gary Comer wrote a piece for our summer catalog describing the guiding principles behind his rapidly growing company. These principles focused on product quality, customer service, and the way we treat people – our customers, employees, and vendors.

One of those principles was his unwavering belief that serving our customers took precedence over everything else. And it was in that spirit that our Lands' End crew pitched in to service our customers Thanksgiving weekend 1985. It was our busiest weekend of the year, and a big snowstorm had hit Dodgeville and the surrounding area. Two feet of snow whipped by 40-knot winds turned into four and five-foot drifts. Of the 300 people scheduled, only 80 could make it in. Some of our customer sales reps were on the phones for 20 hours at a crack - even sleeping here to get the job done!

We're still committed to taking care of our customers, regardless of what Mother Nature has in store for us. Each year, in preparation for our peak holiday season, individuals from all areas of the company are trained to help out in our contact and distribution centers. So whenever the volume of incoming orders or outgoing packages warrants an extra hand or two, everyone is ready step in to provide our customers with the level of service they have come to expect from us.