BRUNSWICK — L.L. Bean’s signature boot is taking off. Really.

While sales of the Bean Boot are expected to hit record highs in its 100th anniversary year, the company is also sending its new, massive Bootmobile on the road as an ambassador for the company.

On Tuesday, the 20- foot long, 13-foot tall, size 747 Bean Boot took off from the company’s Brunswick manufacturing facility to its flagship store in Freeport, on its way to a date in New York City’s Times Square this afternoon.

As the four-wheeled boot revealed Tuesday makes its way across the country, members of the company’s Outdoor Discovery School will give away gear and offer lessons in various outdoor activities, according to a press release.

L. L. Bean CEO Chris McCormick said the company expects to sell more than 400,000 pairs of the signature boots during its centennial year, breaking previous sales records.

“Never in our history have we ever done that,” McCormick told a crowd outside of the Brunswick manufacturing facility Tuesday.

As the boot gains national attention as a fashion statement, not just practical hunting gear, sales of the handmade footwear are picking up enough steam to warrant around 100 new hires at the Brunswick manufacturing facility.

Jack Samson, senior manager for manufacturing who oversees the Brunswick and Lewiston facilities producing the Bean boot, said that 135 new positions will open up in manufacturing this year. In Lewiston, where the boot’s rubber soles are molded, he said the company will add 35 jobs.

Increased boot sales have spurred L.L. Bean to expand out- of- state sales options. McCormick told the Bangor Daily News that the company has plans for a retail store outside New York City in Danbury, Conn., two more outlet stores, and further expansion into Japan and China, where the company already operates various stores.

For the 100th anniversary, workers in Brunswick will stitch the boot’s leather “uppers” to special red rubber soles in a throwback to the first boots made by company founder Leon Leonwood Bean in 1912.

While the new boots are gaining in popularity and sales, Samson said that many customers still cling to their old boots. Annually, he said, between 6,000 to 10,000 boots will be shipped to Brunswick for repair. Just last week, Samson said, a pair of heirloom boots from the 1930s made their way to Brunswick for a touch up, which is sometimes a sensitive matter.

Samson said that one pair came in with a note from the owner asking to preserve chew marks made by a favorite hunting dog.

By the company’s standards for repair, the hole at the back of the Bootmobile would call for a fix, too. But without the hole in the back, how would you get in?

dfishell@timesrecord.com