IN SEPTEMBER 2007, Neil Fiske clipped into a climbing rope with Peter Whittaker high on the flanks of Mount Rainier. Fiske was a stranger to Whittaker and the mountain. At 46, he’d just been hired on as the CEO of Eddie Bauer, the venerable outdoor retailer. He’d barely gotten settled in his new digs—an office in Bellevue, an apartment five blocks away—when he found himself trudging up the steep slant of Disappointment Cleaver. It was a promotional climb. Men’s Journal had invited a few advertisers to climb the mountain with the magazine’s publisher. Fiske figured it would give him a chance to get to know the territory. In his previous job, running the Bath and Body Works chain, he’d become an expert on soaps, lotions, and candles. As he stabbed his ice ax into a glacier, he realized he was a long way from the world of baths and spas.
For Peter Whittaker, it was another day at the office. Born into Northwest climbing royalty—his father Lou and his uncle Jim, the Whittaker twins, were leading American mountaineers of the ’60s and ’70s—he’d grown up on Rainier. His dad cofounded Rainier Mountaineering Incorporated (RMI) in 1968, and Peter took over the business in the early 2000s. He’d been to the summit more than 225 times.
Whittaker, the guide, and Fiske, the client, didn’t talk much on the way up the mountain. Fiske was a nice guy, but Whittaker had little interest in his company’s products. Climbers today wore the North Face, Mountain Hardwear, Marmot—not Eddie Bauer.
It was tough going. Warm weather had glazed the mountain’s upper crest with smooth glare ice. Things were dead slippery underfoot.
The climb gave Fiske plenty of time to consider his precarious position both on and off the mountain. Although Eddie Bauer remained a premier name in retailing, the company teetered on the edge of disaster. It had grown too big, had too many far-flung product lines, and suffered under crushing debt payments. Its very survival was in doubt. The Bauer board had hired Fiske, a protege of Limited Brands founder Les Wexner, hoping the retail wunderkind could turn things around.
During the ascent, Fiske had begun mulling over an idea. At a rest stop the client asked his guide a favor.
“Peter, can I meet you in your office after the climb?”
Whittaker and Fiske made it to the summit. Back in Whittaker’s office at the RMI Basecamp, a grassy compound in the mountain town of Ashford, Fiske laid out his proposal. “I want to reconnect Eddie Bauer with its heritage,” he said. “The company was built on its founder’s love of fishing, hunting, and outdoor expeditions. Your uncle Jim was a big part of that. Eddie Bauer outfitted that American Everest expedition in 1963. I want to bring back the old Eddie Bauer, the company with a soul, the company people loved. I’d like to know if you’re interested in helping me.”
Whittaker was taken aback. He knew all about Uncle Jim and the Eddie Bauer down jacket that accompanied him as the first American to climb Mount Everest. But that was ages ago. Eddie Bauer was a middle-age lifestyle and furniture company. Whittaker had relationships with Mountain Hardwear and Marmot. He couldn’t just throw them over for some guy with nostalgic thoughts about Uncle Jim.
“What do you have in mind?”
“I want you to put a team together to build a line of expedition gear,” Fiske said. “You’ll build it, you’ll be in control. Nothing will go to market without your approval.”
That got Whittaker’s attention.
“How long are you going to stick around?” he demanded.
“Five years, minimum,” said Fiske.
“Good,” said Whittaker. “Because that’s how long it’s going to take.”
• • •
FOUR YEARS ON, Neil Fiske has kept his word. He remains large and in charge at Eddie Bauer headquarters, in the Lincoln Square building across from Bellevue Square. The brand of adventure outerwear that Whittaker and his team ultimately created, First Ascent, has garnered awards and respect from the outdoor community. Fiske hasn’t just talked about reconnecting the brand to its historic roots. He’s made it visceral. One of his first moves as CEO was to direct the construction of a company archive. The mini museum now greets employees and visitors in the foyer of Eddie Bauer headquarters. It’s chock-full of great stuff: the earliest Eddie Bauer down jacket, a patented 1934 badminton shuttlecock (with real feathers!), hickory skis imported from Norway, a mountaineering jacket from the ’63 Everest expedition. For a mountaineering geek, it’s a slice of heaven.
It’s clearly a pleasure for Fiske, too. “It’s all about who we are and what we stand for,” he said, gazing over the glass-encased jackets and fishing gear.
The challenge for Fiske isn’t entirely about the past. It’s about merging two pasts—the founding half century (roughly 1920 to 1970) and the company’s post-1970 expansion era—with a retail market that demands constant invention and innovation.
As if to emphasize the company’s fresh outlook, Fiske appeared for our interview wearing jeans and a black First Ascent T-shirt. He’s 49 now, but his boyish face allows him to pass for 35. The crumbling retail empire he took over in 2007 looks to be—finally—shoring up its foundation. Having weathered the worst retail downturn since the Great Depression, Eddie Bauer is looking forward to its 100-year anniversary in 2020. But for a while, the company’s survival was no sure bet. Its story is the saga of a name, a brand, a company, stretched far beyond its origins. At the entrance to the company archive there’s a phrase prominently displayed: “The soul of a brand.” It’s an apt motto for the past four years, because Neil Fiske wasn’t hired merely to turn around a failing retailer. He came to save its soul.
Published: October 2011
Eddie Bauer laid off more than 110 employees a few days before Christmas, and fired two of its senior executives right after the New Year. Two months earlier, the board of directors put a watchdog on Neil Fiske, and I doubt he’ll have a job by the end of 2012. He has created a negative and depressed environment that fosters a high turnover and lots of belligerent and unhappy employees. (I defy the author to find a single person there who, off the record, loves their job.) In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Eddie Bauer survives 2012, thanks to Fiske’s shortsighted micromanagement.
Too bad the author didn’t speak to anyone besides Eddie Bauer’s PR department to write his story. It would have been nice (or, at least, journalism) if he had talked to a single employee (current or former) or athletes represented by the brand to get an alternate view. This article is basically a press release for the company (maybe the author can get a job in EB’s PR department?)
In any case, @terriyaki2 is 100% correct.
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Eddie Bauer- FA. Welcome back to the top where you always belonged.
FISKE FIRED!
What a crock! Neil is doing nothing to make EB what they used to be. He is as bad as the last 3 CEO’s they have had. He brought in 2 managers from Land’s End. Land’s End found out about it and sued. Cost EB $1 million. Did he get rid of them? Of course not, he isn’t that bright. LE sued again and it cost EB another $1 million. Those lovely people wanted their old cronies working with them so they got rid of everyone who had seniority at EB. Starting with a woman who had been there 25 years.
We need to question those who hire the CEOs because they certainly are not doing a good job and the people they bring in are doing nothing but running EB into the ground.
Neil needs to go!! And without a severance package.
I think EB needed this. Whatever it is, whether it be Fiske alone (doubtful) or just the combo of the two mixed in with a few Ah-ha’s! The line a few years ago started to get soft and very much like Land’s End. The FA line of outdoor gear was good, but not quite in line with the selections of say: Arcteryx or Mountain Hardwear.
This season’s clothing line is nothing short of incredible, in my opinion. It’s been years since I’ve walked into a store and truly ooh’d and ahhh’d and a large chunk of the pieces. The mix of vintage/modern/function/style is just… workin’.
The new pieces that FA bring them back up to par with the other outdoor gear lines (right along with the price, of course) and they feel and fit amazing. I’ll dearly miss the Paradise Base Layers, but maybe the replacement won’t hold in the smell of everything they come into contact with quite as bad.
Overall (if anyone is even reading this) I think you’ve got one of, if not THE best clothing line available right now to us 30-somethings who like to play outdoors, but want to look damn-good, as well.
I’m lucky enough to live at a property that was once the location of Eddie Bauer’s fishing cabin in Redmond, WA. We now call it Wooden Bear Farm, on Bear Creek. Right now the salmon are spawning in the creek outside our back door, though it’s not a good year, nothing like the fish photo with this article. Great to see the historical part of this article especially. When we see the stores, we always hold hope that some part of the legacy endures.
I think he is already doing a fairly good job.
Here is that article I was telling you about.
Kudos to Bruce Barcott for a well-written and gripping narrative. Cheers to Neil Fiske for staying focused on Eddie. I was a marketing executive at Eddie Bauer 2000-2001, one of many raising the alarm about loosing touch with Eddie’s spirit. Go Neil!
What a great article. My family has mourned for Eddie’s Eddie Bauer, and are excited to embrace the new Eddie Bauer that knows what the outdoors is truly about.
I love the folklore side of the former “expedition outfitter” and the continued performance of the products purchased in their heyday. Unfortunately the mainstay goose down products like the Bauer comforters are nothing today compared to those made when the company was strong. Not only are the products not performing as well, customer service is not standing behind them with their stated “guarantee of complete satisfaction”.
Eddie Bauer has gone down the toilet in the past few years by cutting corners on merchandise size and quality. And then having the nerve to charge top dollar for garbage. I’ve taken my business elsewhere. This company is headed the route of Circuit City and Borders.