Quad/Graphics to be exclusive printer for L.L.Bean catalogs
All prepress to be managed at Quad’s Braintree, Mass. location & at new Freeport Maine facility
Under terms of a newly signed multi-year, multi-million-dollar agreement, Quad/Graphics will become the exclusive printer and prepress provider for L.L.Bean catalogs beginning in January.

The contract covers all prepress, printing, binding and mailing for L.L.Bean’s catalogs — more than 65 catalog titles in all, including L.L.Bean’s full-line and prospecting catalogs, and its Men’s, Women’s, Kids, Fly Fishing, Hunting, Traveler and Outdoor Discovery Schools titles — as well as a portion of its photography.

Prepress production will be managed by the Quad/Imaging Service Center in Braintree, Mass., and at a new prepress facility to be located in Freeport, Maine, in or near L.L.Bean’s headquarters. Printing and distribution of the catalogs will be handled from Quad/Graphics’ gravure printing plants in Martinsburg, W.V., Oklahoma City, Okla. and Lomira, Wis. QuadPhoto, Quad/Graphics’ digital-photography subsidiary, will handle a portion of L.L.Bean’s photography at an in-house studio to be established at L.L.Bean headquarters in Freeport, Maine.

Quad/Graphics’ direct-marketing vision and capabilities were a key factor in L.L.Bean’s decision. Quad/Graphics supports catalogers and other direct-marketers with a wide range of printing and data services and processes to create targeted, responsive 1-to-1 communications. Quad/Graphics also offered L.L.Bean the most comprehensive, cost-effective production solutions from prepress through distribution, including state-of-the-art gravure technology, swift production turnaround times and the ability to deliver significant postal savings through co-mailing and high-density, carrier-route sorting.

“We were impressed with their innovation, technology and quality,” said Steve Fuller, L.L.Bean senior VP of corporate marketing.

“We are delighted to re-establish our print partnership with one of the nation’s most remarkable catalogers,” said Joel Quadracci, Quad/Graphics president and chief executive officer. “This partnership is firmly rooted in the unlimited power and possibilities of ink on paper, and combines our platform’s technology and consistency of quality with one of the most-recognized brand names in American business. We are truly excited and honored to be L.L.Bean’s print partner.”