And a few others have either sold to other retailers or closed because they priced themselves out of existence. We can't afford their stuff no matter how much we need such products. With the wages of the common worker who works outdoors, especially in the hospitality and recreation industries, $200 winter coats or boots or hiking boots aren't obtainable. REI went south about ten years ago and I'm not sure what happened to Pategonia but they were all too expensive after a while. Almost all of the products are imported so I can imagine they can't keep going.

Welcome to trumpistan.

you can deal directly with the Chinese? Our manufacturing base is in History's dust bin.

And they were headed to this point eventually, given how things have gone, it just all comes together now.

Have some good sales. Only way I can afford their gear.

N/t

The last thing I recall purchasing from them was a parka. I still have it and use it when I'm removing snow. I got it about 27 years ago. The cuffs are a little frayed but otherwise it's still the warmest winter coat I own.

& I got a bunch of all-cotton, long-sleeved tee shirts that I still have & love! Half price at $25 each, it was more than I usually pay for a tee, but they've lasted & are nice thick fabric, not thin stuff you can practically see through.

- vulture capitalism.

Last edited Fri Mar 13, 2026, 02:54 PM - Edit history (1)

... is rarely, if ever, better. Economies of scale apparently have a tipping point. This has been proven beyond the remotest shadow of a doubt thousands of times, but corporatists never seem to learn, because HEY! they're "the smartest guys in the room!"
They squeeze the life out of their "associates", while whining that a livable wage would drive prices up, even as they pay a CEO $8,000+ per hour! Or sometimes more.
Corporatism is a cancer, and cancer nearly always consumes, and ultimately kills, its host.

Good encapsulation of our entire economy.

... I'll bet they found that they made more money with catalog sales then they ultimately made by overextending themselves with more brick-and-mortar stores than could reasonably be managed. And demographics factor in, too. Placing a high-end store in an area that is not populated by enough high-income earners that want to buy their stuff is a sure-fire recipe for disaster. Saw that happen here with a huge mall in an area that simply didn't have the population density to sustain it. Now it's a ghost mall.
One would think that that would be marketing 101 for developers, but greed blinds people to inconvenient facts.

I was wondering…

LLBean, J Crew - I ordered from all those companies in the 80s/90s. In Wisconsin we had Land's End & shopped online or in their outlet stores.

I needed decent luggage when leaving Wisconsin, so I bought it at Lands End Outlet (it was returned monogram stuff, and of course the monograms weren't mine, but it brought down the price a lot - I used them for years!)

I was never the most fashionable kid or demanded to wear only the most popular brands, but I do admit I took great pride in that one particular shirt.

Winter coat for $5, and a pair of their jeans for $4. at a resale shop. Both looked to be brand new
Many years ago I bought some of their cloths because they had a lifetime guarantee.

leverage buyouts.

Obi Wan

then they are managed by a public or private equity company that collects brands. Many shoe lines do this, the former Martha Stewart is part of one, there are sporting goods brand collections.

We're to the point where there are only a handful of department store type retailers remaining, Macy's, Kohl's, Nordstrom perhaps the more prominent. And the back side of Kohl's looks like Marshall's or Ross. Of course not much is made in the U.S. of A.

It’s the same as a pay cut.

Such mind-boggling incompetence.

Companies, may I make some suggestions?
1. Cut your ceos pay by at least 3/4, 9/10 would be even better. No ceo should be making more than 5 million per anum, and that is more than generous.
2. Bring back real customer service.
3. Take these words attributed to Henry Ford to heart: Your employees are your best customers. Pay them decent wages, treat them like people, treat them decently, and they will help to bring in the customers.

Each one of the companies that acquired Eddie Bauer probably loaded on debt and took big chunks of the proceeds to reward executives and shareholders, leaving the company cash poor and debt hug. Vulture capitalism at its finest