One of America’s most storied outdoor brands could soon lose most of its brick-and-mortar stores. Eddie Bauer, an international outfitter created in Seattle by its eponymous founder in 1920, will soon file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to reports from Business Insider and credit intelligence agency Octus.
Parent company Catalyst Brands owns the licensing rights to distribute Eddie Bauer’s products and is preparing to file for the brand’s bankruptcy in February. The upcoming bankruptcy filing, which Octus cited from “industry sources,” could spell the closure of many of Eddie Bauer’s 180 remaining stores in the U.S. and Canada.
That news comes on the heels of a January announcement from Authentic Brands Group, which owns the intellectual property rights of Eddie Bauer. Authentic said that it would expand “digital growth” of Eddie Bauer, focusing on e-commerce and wholesale.
“We’re setting the brand up for long-term, sustainable growth,” Jarrod Weber, global president of sports and lifestyle at Authentic, said in a Jan. 8 press release.
Neither Catalyst nor Authentic immediately responded to GearJunkie requests for comment on Friday.
Eddie Bauer: A Brief History
Few U.S.-born outfitters can claim the storied history of Eddie Bauer. The brand began as a local sport shop in downtown Seattle in 1920. It was the passion project of Eddie Bauer, an Orcas Island native who grew up hunting and fishing in the Pacific Northwest.
Bauer stayed committed to his own outdoor pursuits, which translated into innovations that still resonate today. In 1936, Bauer changed outdoor gear forever by creating the first patented down jacket: the Skyliner. Bauer focused on creating the jacket after nearly freezing to death while fishing on the Olympic Peninsula. And during World War II, Bauer designed thousands of down-insulated flight suits for the U.S. Army Air Forces.
The brand’s sought-after jackets later resulted in one of Bauer’s most famous successes: outfitting the first American ascent of Mount Everest in 1963. Bauer focused on what he called “the guide built process,” which meant collaborating with professional guides and athletes in developing new gear — a practice that has since become standard across the outdoor industry.
Even if most Eddie Bauer stores close, the brand is unlikely to completely disappear. It has weathered two previous bankruptcy filings in 2003 and in 2009, during the Great Recession.
Yet the likely closure of many Eddie Bauer stores would mean hundreds, if not thousands, of layoffs of employees dedicated to selling outdoor gear. According to numerous reports this week, January 2026 has already seen U.S. jobs disappearing faster than any time since the Great Recession in 2009.
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