It amazing that even 25 years after mainstream ecommerce that we're still seeing the effects work their way through retail. Good reminder for anticipating how and when other majorly disruptive technologies like autonomous vehicles and AI will have impact.
It's not really ecommerce. it's PE parasites selling the brand equity.
The article doesn't really mention: Authentic Brands Group, an asset-light PE org, bought it in 2021; a company called Outdoor 5 LLC now licenses Eddie Bauer's e-commerce and wholesale operations; and we're well deep into enshittification. You can find widespread complaints of bad product quality. Note that ABG wasn't the first PE company to own them, but they seem to have accelerated the enshittification / are doing a bust-out: turning them into a bottom-dollar contract manufacturer scam before people broadly realize the brand name no longer merits the quality reputation it has/had.
Chapter 11 seems to be like a fashion trend these days. Everyone is doing it, sometimes multiple times in a very short time. It’s nothing more than accounting tool to restructure debt while being able to operate the company. Not saying it’s a good thing, but it isn’t as serious as it once used to be.
You know, I'm past middle age, have seen this brand everywhere for many years, and I only just now read about the individual Eddie Bauer for the first time. Interesting dude.
I remember back in high school, everyone would have an Eddie Bauer backpack except the random person with a Jansport. People would always insist on how you had to take advantage of the quality guarantee:
"You have a bent zipper and a small tear after lugging your books for years? Great! Take it to the store and argue with them that it's defective until they give you a new backpack!"
You did’t even have to argue with Jansport. The threading was coming undone on my 15 year old Jansport backpack, so I mailed it in, they fixed it, and sent it back to me. Still using it almost 30 years after originally buying it,
I'll miss their medium-tall size if they're truly gone! Kind of the holy grail for tall skinny people. Anyone have recommendations of brands with similar fits?
-> Its e-commerce and wholesale operations are not affected by the filing because they are operated separately.
Eddie Bauer the brand is not going bankrupt; the company that runs the brick-and-mortor stores in North America as Eddie Bauer is. So if you get your Eddie Bauer from anywhere that isn't an Eddie Bauer store you should be fine.
Not really a surprise. The people who buy outdoor apparel to actually spend time outdoors, like for hiking / hunting / fishing / skiing, long ago moved to other brands that were more technically advanced and focused on their specific activity. That left only the casual fashion consumers who are notoriously fickle, and Eddie Bauer failed to keep up with fashion trends. The products aren't bad necessarily but they're nothing special, you can get essentially the same stuff from a dozen other brands now.
I used to be an Eddie Bauer customer, but the quality of even their basic clothes (think business casual "docker" pants) rapidly diminished and their technical/functional gear was never remotely in the same category as Patagonia or Arc'teryx.
I still hold out hope for Patagonia in the post Yvon Chouinard era.
Their quality and customer service remain top-tier. Hell, they repaired my puffy jacket's zipper for free--hopefully it will have another decade of hard use.
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[ 0.25 ms ] story [ 33.7 ms ] threadThe article doesn't really mention: Authentic Brands Group, an asset-light PE org, bought it in 2021; a company called Outdoor 5 LLC now licenses Eddie Bauer's e-commerce and wholesale operations; and we're well deep into enshittification. You can find widespread complaints of bad product quality. Note that ABG wasn't the first PE company to own them, but they seem to have accelerated the enshittification / are doing a bust-out: turning them into a bottom-dollar contract manufacturer scam before people broadly realize the brand name no longer merits the quality reputation it has/had.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Bauer_(outdoorsman)
"You have a bent zipper and a small tear after lugging your books for years? Great! Take it to the store and argue with them that it's defective until they give you a new backpack!"
Eddie Bauer the brand is not going bankrupt; the company that runs the brick-and-mortor stores in North America as Eddie Bauer is. So if you get your Eddie Bauer from anywhere that isn't an Eddie Bauer store you should be fine.
I still hold out hope for Patagonia in the post Yvon Chouinard era.
Their quality and customer service remain top-tier. Hell, they repaired my puffy jacket's zipper for free--hopefully it will have another decade of hard use.