Earmuff inventor wouldn’t recognize today’s styles

FARMINGTON – Shoppers are swarming through stores in search of last-minute gifts. But the fluffy earmuff created by Farmington’s native son apparently isn’t on many shopping lists.

The old-fashioned earmuffs with the coiled band and fuzzy pads have all but disappeared from catalog pages and department store shelves.

“Gone are the days of rabbits for earmuffs,” said Rich Donaldson, spokesman for L.L. Bean, which stopped selling them years ago.

They’ve been replaced by fleece headbands and newer, sleeker variations that don’t muss up a wearer’s hair like the old ones.

Those newer models, including snazzy “Big Bang Arctic 180s,” which keep ears warm while providing space for earphones for your CD or MP3 player, would hardly be recognizable to the earmuff inventor.

Chester Greenwood created the first “ear protector” back in 1873 when he was a teenager trying to ward off Maine’s icy weather.

He had gone ice skating and the weather proved too cold. The other boys twisted their mufflers around their heads to keep their ears warm. Greenwood thought that was uncomfortable, so he set about making something better.

His first contraption was made out of haywire and covered with felt and beaver fur. Later, he came up with the innovation of the adjustable steel band that allowed the muffs to coil into a compact bundle when not in use.

“Perfection had been reached, I thought,” Greenwood later told the Lewiston Journal newspaper.

Greenwood acquired a patent and established a factory that churned out 400,000 pairs at its peak in 1936, the year before he died. But his children were unable to maintain the company’s success.

Sully Greenwood, one of Chester Greenwood’s grandsons, recalls the flaps of his grandfather’s ear protectors as being sleek, not furry or puffy like many of those that later came into vogue.

“We were never allowed to call them earmuffs. They’re ear protectors, not muffs. Even the box says ear protectors,” said Greenwood, 84. “Now, they call them muffs, muffs, muffs. Probably can’t spell ‘ear protectors.”‘

Farmington is one of the few places where those old-style earmuffs are still in fashion, at least on one day of the year.

On Dec. 21 each year, residents don earmuffs, or ear protectors, during a parade to commemorate “Chester Greenwood Day.”

But earmuffs have slowly faded away elsewhere. L.L. Bean dropped them in the mid-1980s, said Maynard McCorkle, a product developer.

“I think with the introduction of fleece products – GoreTex, fleece – we’ve just seen a move toward more comfortable, less itchy ear and head protection,” McCorkle said. “Earmuffs have always included some sort of strap or band which is oftentimes metal, a coiled metal, and they weren’t always necessarily so comfortable.”

L.L. Bean is one of the retailers that carries the Big Bang 180s, a newfangled version that wraps around the back of the neck. Other newer varieties include bandless “Ear Bags” and “Ear Pops.”

Ron Wilson, one of Big Bang’s founders, acknowledges that his product owes a debt to Greenwood.

But Wilson said he saw the need for his updated ear warmer because women didn’t like the way old earmuffs messed up their dos and “most guys wouldn’t be caught dead” wearing earmuffs.

“They go across the top of your head so they mess up your hair, and they aren’t very good in active sports, so if you’re running, jogging, riding your bike, they have a tendency to blow off,” he said.

Fans of the original style can find them.

Several companies have made the traditional earmuff into a specialty item, offering them in a variety of furs including rabbit, beaver and fox. Neiman Marcus sells mink earmuffs for $96.

In Farmington, earmuffs are still a popular item at Renys, said Carolyn Mayhew, manager of the discount store.

Mayhew, who owns three pairs herself in addition to an antique pair, said the store sells about 300 each winter.

Many of them are sold on Chester Greenwood Day, when earmuffs show up not only on the heads of parade-goers but also on police cruisers, dogs and the evergreen wreaths hung throughout the downtown.

“The earmuffs and the headbands don’t send the same message,” Mayhew said. “The message of the earmuff is more of a traditional part of our town whereas the headbands are more for skiing and things like that. But for everyday apparel, earmuffs are more appropriate.”