Bellevue, Wash. — Eddie Bauer LLC, operator of Eddie Bauer stores in the United States and Canada and a licensee of the Eddie Bauer brand, has entered into a Restructuring Support Agreement (RSA) with its secured lenders and commenced voluntary Chapter 11 cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey.
The RSA is designed to enable Eddie Bauer to move through the process as quickly and efficiently as possible. Through the RSA and the Chapter 11 proceedings, Eddie Bauer will conduct liquidation sales at its stores while continuing to pursue an ongoing sale process to conduct an expeditious, value-maximizing going concern sale of all or part of its store operations. In the event of a sale, Eddie Bauer may depart from a full wind down of operations to facilitate a going-concern transaction. Eddie Bauer believes this dual-path process will best maximize value for all stakeholders.
Eddie Bauer’s retail and outlet stores in the United States and Canada will remain open and continue serving customers as the company begins its process of winding down certain stores. E-commerce and wholesale operations are not impacted by the wind down, as they are operated by a separate licensed operator, Outdoor 5, LLC (Oved), and will continue to operate as usual. Authentic Brands Group continues to own the intellectual property associated with the Eddie Bauer brand and may license the brand to other operators. The operations of other brands in the Catalyst Brands portfolio are not affected by this filing and will continue in the normal course.
“Even prior to the inception of Catalyst Brands last year, the [Eddie Bauer] was in a challenged situation, with declining sales, supply chain challenges and other issues,” says Marc Rosen, CEO of Catalyst Brands. “Over the past year, these challenges have been exacerbated by various headwinds, including increased costs of doing business due to inflation, ongoing tariff uncertainty and other factors. While the leadership team at Catalyst was able to make significant strides in the brand, including rapid improvements in product development and marketing, those changes could not be implemented fast enough to fully address the challenges created over several years.”
Eddie Bauer’s retail store locations outside of the United States and Canada are operated by other licensees, are not included in the Chapter 11 filings.
Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Cole Schotz P.C., and Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP are serving as Eddie Bauer’s proposed legal counsel; BRG is serving as the proposed financial advisor; and SOLIC Capital Advisors is serving as the proposed investment banker. Reevemark is serving as communications advisor to Eddie Bauer.
SOURCE: Eddie Bauer LLC