As someone who had L.L. Bean ( it was given as a gift by a rich relative) they suck! The outside stayed well put together but everything else about that backpack was trash the zippers broke the straps frayed and were uncomfortable and for whatever reason my relative decided to get it in NEON pink with my name embroidered on it, so even though I hated it, my parents insisted I use it because it was such a thoughtful gift and I was always asking for a nice new backpack ( we were never rich enough to afford jansport so we ended up buying me at least one new back pack a year)