Typical projects last from three to six months. Some major projects, such as the call center software replacement effort, span years, but are divided into smaller deliverables. A number of the company's efforts are now aimed at tying systems together, such as integrating Web-based applications to the back-office backbone. Lands' End has initiated a number of e-commerce projects recently, building private corporate marketplaces, participating in public marketplaces, and using technology to simplify the customer experience on its own Web site. LogoSnapShot™ shows how corporate logos would appear on various items in a private online store. The company teamed with Commerce One and Ariba through their online portals and is working with WebMethods for systems integration.

A Specialty Shopper keeps size and preference information for customers. Your Personal Model™ builds a 3-D model of a customer. Staff members have installed Cisco's Collaboration Server to connect the company Web site to a call center. Customers click through from an icon to a personal shopper to be contacted back by text chat or a phone call. Either way, the customer is contacted within 20 seconds. Shop with a Friend™ connects shoppers with a friend or family member by Internet chat or phone and synchronizes the Web pages they are looking at. Sales at the online site more than tripled from $18 million to $61 million in 1998 and by the end of 1999 exceeded a total of $138 million.

Lands' End competes on the quality of its clothing for a fair price, its unmatched guarantee, and its one-on-one customer service. Competitors include L.L. Bean, Eddie Bauer, The Gap, and Nordstrom.

Benefits include medical and dental insurance. Employees are 100 percent vested in the retirement program, which includes a 401(k) to which the company contributes and a profit-sharing plan funded by the company. There is an after-tax savings program with a number of investment options. There is an annual incentive bonus, determined by company performance. The company pays for life insurance and offers disability insurance. Employees are eligible for substantial discounts of catalog merchandise. There are seven holidays, and two half-day holidays. Vacation starts at one week during the first year, two weeks after the first year, then increases to three weeks after five years, and four weeks after ten years. Employees receive a personal day off each year as well. There has been one salaried staff layoff in the company's history, in 1998, after new management consolidated business functions. An attractive severance package was provided to affected employees.

Employees may use the free activity center, which has an Olympic-sized swimming pool, indoor track, exercise equipment, and racquetball courts. There is a back-up child care center for emergencies. The company offers tuition reimbursement, adoption assistance, and childcare reimbursement for off-site travel. Coffee and apples are available for free. Social activities include the annual summer picnic, discounted tickets to an outdoor Shakespeare theatre, and a number of company-sponsored sports teams. Garrison Keilor, of Prairie Home Companion fame, is featured at an annual Lands' End show. Dress is casual, with shorts on some occasions. Most employees wear Lands' End clothing.

The apparel Lands' End sells is classically inspired. Nearly 90 percent of its customers have a college education and they are twice as likely as the average consumer to have Internet access. Most are between 35 and 54 years old. The company focuses its apparel line on a classic, casual style. Product lines include the traditional blazers, slacks, and polo shirts that have been the company's staple since the 1970s, as well as tailored suits for men (Lands'End for Men®), tailored suits for women (First Person™), linens and accessories for the home (Coming Home®), private company-branded clothing (Corporate Sales), casual and school clothes and uniforms for children (Kids and School Uniforms), and online sales (landsend.com). The company has 16 outlet and inlet stores in four states.

In 1978, a new fulfillment and distribution center was opened in a 40-acre cornfield in Dodgeville, Wisconsin. Comer had vacationed in the area for years, liked the people for their hard work (milk the cows before coming into work) and the area for its culture (friendly). It helped that the city had just built an industrial park in order to attract new businesses and it was inexpensive. In 1990, the company's marketing, merchandising, and creative departments followed the move to Wisconsin from their original headquarters in Chicago, establishing Dodgeville as the company's new headquarters.

Some statistics help show the scope of the business. In 1999, 236 million catalogs were distributed. Catalog printing and mailing represent more than forty percent of the company's operating costs. Lands' End customer service operations handled 15 million calls in 1999, averaging 40,000 to 50,000 a day, and peaking at 100,000 a day a few weeks before Christmas. On a single day, they shipped 146,000 orders. The company receives 500 e-mails a day and answers each one personally.

Trousers are hemmed for free; fabric swatches are provided for free; and a lost mitten from a pair will be replaced at half the cost of the pair - no shipping charge, during the same season it was purchased.

The company hired 50 technical staff members in the past year, including five at the entry-level position. The company recruits entry-level professionals at the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire, the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater, and Madison Area Technical College. Technical staff is found through advertising (35 percent), online recruiting (25 percent), employee referrals (25 percent; there is a substantial referral bonus and sometimes a raffle for Green Bay Packer tickets), college recruiting (10 percent) and unsolicited resumes (5 percent). Turnover is five percent.

Says Loranger, "We look for people who are a good fit for the Lands' End culture. They are non-political, down-to-earth, team players, friendly, highly motivated, and looking for exciting new challenges. Currently, we are hiring people with a lot of the hot new skills in networking and infrastructure." Entry-level professionals should be able to demonstrate situations in which they have exercised leadership. Continues Loranger, "We don't look for an exact match necessarily, as in Basic or COBOL classes. Rather, we want go-getters with potential."