NY Times: http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/eddie-bauer-to-file-for-bankruptcy-and-seek-sale-to-ccmp/?scp=1&sq=bauer&st=cse

AP Story: http://www.startribune.com/business/48262382.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUX

Looks like another company overleveraged with debt.

Edited by citystuckhiker on 06/17/2009 12:28:22 MDT.

So does that mean their new technical gear line will be changing its name to "First Descent"?

Eddie Bauer has been flirting with bankruptcy for about 15 year now- they have been floundering in the market longer then that.
They could of/should of been like Lands End, but constant bad marketing decisions put them in the tank.

Devin - Funny stuff... first descent!

Edited by brianjbarnes on 06/17/2009 16:23:24 MDT.

Folks who grew up in Seattle or who ordered honest-to-gosh gear and clothing from their catalogs can still get misty-eyed recollecting what EB once was. Alas, that was a lifetime ago and they've been "Eddie Bauer" in name only for decades.

Still, it's hard to read of the corporate remnants being dragged through the mud. I'd have preferred they'd been renamed, something along the line of Outdoor Eddie's Clothing & Lifestyle Stuff.

Cheers,

Rick

> Folks who grew up in Seattle or who ordered honest-to-gosh gear and clothing from their catalogs can still get misty-eyed recollecting what EB once was.

I remember when an Eddie Bauer sleeping bag was THE sleeping bag to have for eastern winter mountaineering (temps commonly -20*F). And none of this it-might-be-warm-enough-for-that-if-the-gods-are-in-a-good-mood-that-night. I once had my -20* Eddie Bauer bag down to -40* (it was marginal THAT night).

It has been sad to watch them in recent years.

-- Bob

>Devin - Funny stuff... first descent!

I'm here all night. :)

But seriously, it is too bad. Imagine if they had stayed with high quality, technical gear rather than going as far as having their own trim level on Ford SUVs - remember the Explorer "Eddie Bauer Edition"?

My most memorable EB product: the down cot. Yup, a camp cot with down tubes beneath, for warmth. I've always wanted Tom Hennessy to copy that :-)

>Folks who grew up in Seattle or who ordered honest-to-gosh gear and clothing from their catalogs can still get misty-eyed recollecting what EB once was. Alas, that was a lifetime ago and they've been "Eddie Bauer" in name only for decades.

That's why I laughed at the comment this comment in an SFGate blurb on the filing:

Not to mention that elite outdoor gear is not high on consumers' must-have list in the Great Recession.

Expensive does not automatically equal 'elite.'

I understand the urge to make as much a profit as possible, but it's sad (for them) when companies forget who their core consumers are.

One of my favorite old EB things was a down balaclava, complete with eyehole cutouts... they had some pretty innovative, good, techy gear "in the day."