Eddie Bauer is a regional icon in the Seattle area. Along with REI, I have been familiar with its products since my childhood, much of which was spent outdoors. Founded in 1920, the store made a name for itself as a supplier of quality outdoor clothing and gear to military, scientific and exploration expeditions.
Founder Eddie Bauer started out at 21 years of age selling sports equipment on a seasonal basis. As he matured and developed his business sense, Bauer began to patent useful designs, such as the quilted down jacket, which became standard government issue for airmen in the Army Air Force during WWII (my grandpa, a WWII B-17 gunner, was a big fan). He also sold a great many backpacks, pants and sleeping bags to the US military, which were used in campaigns from the snowy Aleutians to steamy Guadalcanal.
Eddie Bauer’s popularity with American soldiers and airmen during the war carried over to the postwar years, as former military men signed up in droves for his mail-order catalog. Up to that point Eddie Bauer’s growth and popularity was fuelled entirely by men, who were his sole customers. However, he soon began to produce women’s clothing as well, which was probably a logical choice at the time given the maturity of the company. Little did he know at that point that he was sowing the seeds of the company’s eventual downfall.
During the 1960s the company continued to hold to its tradition of providing rugged gear to real men who worked and played hard. The first American to scale Mt. Everest wore Eddie Bauer gear, and it continued to be a favorite amongst explorers and scientists on expeditions to such inhospitable places as Antarctica.
However, after Eddie Bauer sold his company to partner William Niemi in 1968 to retire at the age of 69, the company took a decided shift in another direction. Niemi set out to broaden the appeal of Eddie Bauer by greatly expanding the emphasis on women’s clothing and casual wear. This trend continued after he sold the company to General Mills in 1971. Dropping the emphasis on outfitting expeditions, General Mills focused on branding, forming a partnership with Ford to put the Eddie Bauer logo on Broncos and Explorers. I distinctly remember particularly wealthy women driving these things around during the late 1980s and early 90s.
Spiegel bought Eddie Bauer in 1988, opening hundreds of additional stores. Soon, Eddie Bauer was selling table linens and comforters to a growing female clientelle. The company’s rugged origins were increasingly obscured by the softer, gentler products that filled the greater part of its stores. Eddie Bauer became a brand detached from its roots, and many began to see it as the preserve of middle-aged housewives.
While Eddie Bauer’s transformation to the Martha Stewart genre was still in full swing and close to completion, I often visited the corporate headquarters. I was a courier at the time, and it was 1994, before the digital revolution. Back in those twilight days before the internet took off, couriers were used to ferry proofs, photos and designs back and forth between model shoots, photographers, corporate design teams and printers. It was a fun job, despite the danger and lousy pay, and I enjoyed being on my own out on the road. I probably visited Eddie Bauer about three times a week, spending many an idle minute waiting for someone in corporate to sign off on the delivery. What I remember is a heavily female staff. Not only the receptionists, but the managers and designers as well. The entire atmosphere was soaked in estrogen — the only affiliated men I dealt with were the photographers and the guys in the print shops downtown, and they weren’t even employees.
Eddie Bauer, for all intents and purposes, had become a women’s apparel store by the late 1990s. The stores were all filled with soft, synthetic clothing made in China for pennies and then marked up on the strength of the Eddie Bauer brand. The company was selling junk from the point of view of the typical man, but for a time it was a very popular trend. However, like all trends that lack substance and are feminine in nature, it was bound to go out of fashion sooner or later, and sure enough sales started to slip badly about seven years ago. Faced with competition from Abercrombie and Fitch, another former men’s clothing store that actually outdid Eddie Bauer in selling cheap, effeminate junk, quarterly sales declines in the teens became common.
Finally, the recession delivered the coup de grace, and Eddie Bauer declared bankruptcy in July of this year. Now struggling to recapture some of the essence of the company in its virile, younger days, Eddie Bauer has teamed up with real mountaineers to once again sell products worthy of real men. Their new line, First Ascent, is the centerpiece of this effort. Perhaps there is still hope for Eddie Bauer, but if the girl with the pastel helmet and pink climbing rope on the header is any indication, maybe not.
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Seattle, you say?
Once a booming, boisterous coastal town rife with the red-blooded sinew of American expansion.
Now, a Globalist Eurofag imitation of itself – just hopped-up on Starbuck’s.
It’s no coincidence Eddie B’s disintegration arrived at the very time spineless, drug-addled Boomer hippies took over.
It takes decades to despoil a once great city, clothing line – and country.
If your brand starts catering to consumers who want to pretend they’re outdoorsy, you’re going to turn off the folks who actually go outdoors.
The First Ascent clothing is so smooth and tailored. In a word, modern.
On the other hand, there’s the Duluth Trading Company, and their Ballroom Jeans. Crouch without the ouch. I like their Fire Hose Work Pants, the one with the lifetime guarantee.
Another fine essay from The Spearhead.
I kind of liken this to Banana Republic. Back in the early ’90s this store had a Ernest Hemingway vibe to it. I think it was primarily a women’s apparel store but it did have some menswear. The atmosphere of the store was nice as I recall–it was adorned with palm trees and even had a beat-up Jeep among the decor.
Now look at what happened. Banana Repubic is a total SWPL store in both apparel and atmosphere, and I cannot even afford it.
I long for the days of Britches Great Outdoors in the late ’80s-early ’90s. Anyone who grew up in suburban Bergen County, NJ and was a bonafide preppy would know this store! It was the sheeet before it rebranded, attempted to get hip, and eventually folded.
Quintessential.
Former TenderScout.
Dang!
I didn’t know EB was in trouble (should of put-up a MEN marketing flare but alas that’s beyond most female employees cognition), I agree with Welmers analysis though.
Damn I better get that black version Now, huh?!
EDIT-
Damn I better get that black version Now, huh?!
L.L. Bean Black Goose down.
Allow me to use your story as a springboard for my own rant. One reason why companies like Eddie Bauer go from excellence to irrelevance is growth. Every year they need to grow their customer base, revenue, and profit. There is a finite market for high quality outdoor gear. At some point, Eddie Bauer captured as much of that market as they were ever likely to capture, and the only way to keep growing was to branch out. Companies that established strong brands in their original market can be especially tempted to make easy money by sticking their name on all sorts of random crap (e.g. the Eddie Bauer Ford Explorer). A sole proprietor can decide “I’m making plenty of money, and I don’t need any more”. That’s difficult to do with multiple owners (e.g. partnership or family business), and is absolutely impossible for a public company. It wasn’t feminazis that ruined Eddie Bauer — it was the bean counters and financial wunderkinds on Wall Street.
@ Welmer.
Courier eh, I was too, long distance motorcycle courier for the (advertising) print and film industry.
Steed of choice was a shaft drive kawasaki thousand, I used to clock up between 2,000 and 2,500 miles a week.
Now, here’s the thing, if I turned up somewhere that was mainly populated by men, they knew they had ordered a motorcycle courier.
If the item was a can of film it was in a can, sealed with tape, bagged, and sealed again with tape, and saran wrapped for good measure.
If the item was a bromide for the presses, or a 4 colour proof, the item was rolled into a heavy duty cardboard tube, sealed with tape, bagged, sealed again with tape, and saran wrapped for good measure.
If I turned up at a place with lots of women (mainly print advertising places) they used to hand me (dressed up in fucking leathers, helmet in hand) a fucking A1 or A2 bromide in a brown paper envelope.
After about six months I got sick of it, said “fuck em”, opened my jacked, shoved the bromide inside, and zipped the jacket up.
At which point they would start screaming about bending it.
I’d tell em, “lady, everywhere else sticks these things in cardboard tubes” and they would scream again, oh noes, it has to stay flat.
I’d say “why? the fucking print drum is round.” and they’d just look at you.
Only solution was to deliver the bromide creased and fucked, eventually they’d tell the dispatcher not to send the rude biker.
Looking back, I was an asshole to do that job, god knows why I did it, doing 85 mph at 2 am and it’s -2′C and still another 250 miles to go, then a 10 am start again the next day….
Well, Orvis still does a decent job selling mens (and womens) rugged wear with the emphasis on male wear. I’ve been content with Orvis despite the rather high priced items. Hope their niche holds.
“Allow me to use your story as a springboard for my own rant. One reason why companies like Eddie Bauer go from excellence to irrelevance is growth. Every year they need to grow their customer base, revenue, and profit. There is a finite market for high quality outdoor gear. At some point, Eddie Bauer captured as much of that market as they were ever likely to capture, and the only way to keep growing was to branch out.”
You get around this problem by turning Eddie Bauer into a holding company and then expanding to other lines under different brand names. That way the original brand is not diluted when the new experiment fails.
I was also a Frontiersmen/Messenger in the early 90′s. best time of my life.The Independence is great and I was on bike and Foot (unlike AFoR). To this day, Best Job Ever. No one on my Back or over me shoulder, loved it!
And those new “lands” ventured? often offices predominantly female & gay. Retail, magazine & marketing empires in NYC staff?,
women and gays, straight men-men?
eh.
I e-mailed this blog post to the following executives at Eddie Bauer (those whose e-mail addresses I was able to find). I doubt that I’ll get a reply to my message, but maybe one or two will read the article above and reconsider the value of their excessive focus on products that appeal to feminine consumers.
Neil Fiske
CEO/President, Eddie Bauer
Ann Perinchief
Senior Vice President, Eddie Bauer
Freya Brier
Senior Vice President General Counsel, Eddie Bauer
Tom Helton
Senior Vice President/Chief HR Officer, Eddie Bauer
Ronn Hall
Senior Vice President/Supply Chain, Eddie Bauer
Marv Toland
Chief Financial Officer, Eddie Bauer
“You get around this problem by turning Eddie Bauer into a holding company and then expanding to other lines under different brand names. That way the original brand is not diluted when the new experiment fails.”
But the whole point is to leverage aka exploit aka dilute the Eddie Bauer brand name. Otherwise your new line is just some random new line with no marketing appeal.
Curiously, Neil Fiske Jr. the CEO of EB Holdco since 2007 was recognized as “Marketer of the Year” and “Retailer of the Year” in 2004 and 2005 by Women’s Wear Daily. Of course, this was while he was running Bath & Body Works, LLC from 2003 through 2007. Food for thought.
Wow.
Expect to see this same scenario play out with the new line. No company is going to remain loyal to its customer base when there’s a pile to be made, and all the complaining in the world isn’t going to change the fact that women shop more than men.
The only way to change this is to make consumerism unfashionable, something which no one has managed to do so far.
Feminising a company leads to failure. The more influence women gain in a company the worse it does. Look at places like Alcatel and HP when women took over. It is extremely rare for a feminised company to be successful. And note that, as far as I am aware, no F500 company was founded and grown by a woman playing the lead role. Yet there are endless examples of men founding companies and making them successful.
Making a ‘mans’ company ‘feminine’ is the height of corporate suicide. Women are notoriously fickle buyers of products and they buy mostly junk anyway.
Women know nothing about buying anything in the vast majority….as long as it is a pretty colour it will do.
Men. On the other hand. Want to be sure that the product will do what it says and they become very loyal buyers to a product that works. I am a good example. I bought an IBM laptop when I left IBM in 1994 and it crashed and burned. I eventually bought a Dell in 2000 and I have owned Dell laptops ever since. I have always had good experiences with Dell and I’ll keep buying them while they keep fixing them.
DF December 28, 2009 at 12:35
“Curiously, Neil Fiske Jr. the CEO of EB Holdco since 2007 was recognized as “Marketer of the Year†and “Retailer of the Year†in 2004 and 2005 by Women’s Wear Daily.”
Likely because they liked the cloths, not because he was good at making money. There is a BIG difference.
Oracle has crap products but makes LOTS of money because there is a MAN at the top who says making money is wwwaaaayyyyyy more important than the product. Some days I wish Larry would focus a bit more on the product.
This is timely. I was in a store today buying some clothes. And the realisation was ‘fucking hell, all the mens stuff is shoved away in a corner and the variety is crap’. Must have been no more than 20% of the floor space for mens clothes and about 50% for womens cloths with a bit for kids. Of course, there was also not many men in the mens clothes section but tons of wimmin in the wimmins section.
But I did notice the men mostly had, like me, arms full of stuff. We were buying some serious amount of clothes and the women generally had a lot less.
Maybe there is a market for web store that is for mens clothes in the various countries? I am very much a supporter of men just deciding to MGTOW and hire men to supply men for mens needs and just forget women in the business side. Today women buy 80% (or so) at retail. But I am pretty sure that’s just because men are not being engaged in a dialogue that they find useful. And hell, some men even let women buy their cloths for them. How about some mens only clothes stores online. THAT might be a good idea.
Once upon a time (in the 80s) I used to get most of my cloths made in Hong Kong by my tailor. I’d go for a fitting every 18-24 months as I got ‘larger’ and I would just send him money and he would courier down my cloths. When I was in HK I would always go over to see him and order a bunch of cloths. I did that for about 5 years. My gf as she was then used to be really ‘impressed’ that ‘Victor the Tailor’ made most of my clothes. Nowadays? Buying a suite is just a complete pain in the arse and it is way too expensive in the west.
I can’t say I’m too surprised. I’m too young to have ever found any clothing of decent quality from Eddie Bauer and have always looked elsewhere for my outdoor clothing needs…oftentimes in the men’s department of decent outdoorsy stores. The hiking boots are better in the men’s department, as are most of the clothing and shoes I need for doing serious gardening, livestock tending, and hiking.
With that said, I must admit following the First Ascent link and clicking over to the women’s section has me laughing. They don’t just “shrink it and pink it”, they design clothes for women’s needs. Unless these outfits have nursing openings or built in diaper bags inside the coat, I’m having a difficult time figuring out what “special needs” could possibly be had by women when it comes to outdoor clothing. When you’re doing a twenty mile hike, fashion really shouldn’t be a big concern. Comfort and safety on the other hand….;)
You guys have a Cabela’s down there around Oly, don’t you?
‘Feminists’ applaud attack against the Pope :
http://winecatsandfeminism.wordpress.com/
They call him a Nazi too (historical education is not something feminists are known for).
Hmm. Feminist terrorism. Might be worth a blurb.
Good find.
Welmer-You guys have a Cabela’s down there around Oly, don’t you?
Yes we do and we’re there far too much. “The fish house”, as our daughter would call it, is not only good for shopping for boots, coats, and jerky making supplies but for entertaining preschoolers on rainy days too.
Globalman is correct. Feminizing a company is a disaster.
Re: Banana Republic. They originally (in the 1980′s) were a very off-beat, masculine-oriented company that would buy up surplus, weird foreign clothes and import them and sell them cheaply. I remember some amazing stuff, photo-journalist vests, cotton shirts, and australian full raincoats.
Then they were purchased by the Gap and turned into a corporate purveyor of the same clothes you could get in the Gap. The whole reason for the company and brand was gone. Gone, the off-beat, Trader Joes-inspired foreign buys for cheap. Gone the weird but cool stuff for guys you could not find ANYWHERE else. Just the same sort of corporate stuff.
TFH,
I just took a look at the blog you linked to there….. it is a disturbing look at projection of hate ….
John gets it right. this is more a story about corporate finance, then it is about a female takevoer. that’s not to say there aren’t larger social forces at work.
i’m sure there was a time when “outdoorsy” meant either men sitting around the Explorer’s Club drinking martinis and telling tales of their latest adventures or fathers and sons camping, fishing and hunting. these days, however, a significant portion of the outdoors market is SWPL types who want the latest in high-end fleece and fancy camping gear. maybe i’m wrong, but how could any outdoors brand ignore that demographic and stay viable?
Wine, cats and feminism, eh?
Well, one does lead to the other.
It is sad to see a company go under due to mismanagement. We can only hope that the fall of these big, sluggish, useless, beasts will make way for hungry, competent, businesses that can provide goods and services that people actually want, to move in and take their place.
I got all of my outdoors clothing from the US Army. I can attest to you all that tha modern issue is very much superior to the 70′s crap we got. Modern gear looks like it was designed by LL Bean. Fleece and Gortex. I am no longer in but still wear some of it and I don’t look like a homeless person doing so, like all those guys wearing cotton field jackets.
In the reverse order.
Of course!
Hello, nice article full of useful and informative topics, thanks for sharing.. The hiking boots are better in the men’s department, as are most of the clothing and shoes I need for doing serious gardening, livestock tending, and hiking.It is very sad to see a company go under due to mismanagement. ..
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