Eddie Bauer Dressed the First American on Everest. This Year It Closed Every Store

In 1963, Jim Whittaker became the first American to stand on top of Mount Everest, carrying down gear from a small Seattle company called Eddie Bauer. Eddie Bauer had patented America's first quilted down jacket after nearly freezing to death on a fishing trip. In 2026, the company that ran its stores filed for bankruptcy, put every store up for sale, and did not receive a single qualified bid. This is the full story: the man, the jacket, the war contracts, Everest, General Mills, the Ford Explorer, the mall boom, three bankruptcies, and the $286 million number that came back twice. Every number in this video comes from company histories, court filings and contemporary reporting. Sources are listed below. Where sources disagree, we say so on screen. CHAPTERS 0:00 Everest, 1963 and February 9, 2026 1:20 Part 1: The Man Who Almost Froze 4:14 Part 2: The Top of the World 5:35 Part 3: The Mall 7:36 Part 4: Three Bankruptcies 10:57 Part 5: Where It Is Now 11:38 The receipt KEY SOURCES HistoryLink.org, "Bauer, Eddie (1899-1986)", essay 1671 Gale / Encyclopedia.com, "Eddie Bauer Holdings, Inc." company history Mental Floss, "The Near-Death Experience That Inspired the First Patented Down Jacket" (Eddie Bauer historian Colin Berg); Google Patents USD119122 The New York Times, 1981 (Eddie Bauer interview, quoted via HistoryLink) Ford Motor Company, Ford-Eddie Bauer partnership history (1983-2010) AP via NBC News, February 2007 (rejected $286M buyout); AP via Spokesman-Review, June 18, 2009 (Chapter 11); California Apparel News, July 24, 2009 (Golden Gate's $286M bid) License Global, May 2021 (Authentic Brands Group and SPARC acquisition) Retail Dive, Feb 9 and March 6, 2026; Fox Business, Feb 2026; TheStreet, March 10, 2026; Yahoo Finance, March 11, 2026 Where sources disagree: the year of the freezing fishing trip (HistoryLink says 1923; the company historian says January 1935, which we use and attribute), the number of WWII flight parkas (25,000 vs 50,000+), and the 2026 store count (174, 175 or 180 depending on the outlet). Store maps are illustrative: dots are placed by population, not actual store locations; totals come from company histories and news reports. PHOTOS: Chris Light (CC BY-SA 4.0), Rowanlovescars (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons; Library of Congress (public domain); Carleton Watkins / J. Paul Getty Museum (public domain); public-domain and CC0 images via rawpixel. 1963 American Mount Everest Expedition and Eddie Bauer archival photos. FOOTAGE: CTV News (February 2026); Eddie Bauer TV commercial (Canada); Ford F-Series Eddie Bauer Edition TV commercial (1995); MasterCard TV commercial (November 1996). Narration by the Everything Must Go team. Script, research and editing by the Everything Must Go team. Not affiliated with Eddie Bauer, Authentic Brands Group, Catalyst Brands or Ford. #EddieBauer #RetailBankruptcy #BusinessHistory