Update in Austin

[CO skier]

So much for Eddie Bauer: https://www.thestreet.com/retail/10...r-closing-all-stores-in-chapter-11-bankruptcy

Maybe the stores ...

... not the brand:

"ORLANDO, Fla - July 29, 2025 - Travel + Leisure Co. (NYSE:TNL), the world's leading leisure travel company, today announced the launch of the Eddie Bauer Adventure Club, an all-new vacation ownership brand developed in partnership with Authentic Brands Group (Authentic), owner of the Eddie Bauer brand."

 

[Eric B]

... customer at a timeshare sales presentation - "Eddie Bauer, didn't they just go bankrupt and close all their stores in North America?"

... sales person responds "Oh, that was just the actual brick and mortar stores for the clothing and outdoor goods retailer; the brand is still a registered trademark with all of its associated goodwill. Nothing to see behind the curtain; we borrow brands like that all the time; after all we are now Travel + Leisure®!"

 

[Floridaman76]

I wonder if T&L didn't just give a bankrupt company millions of dollars in licensing fees to "buy" a useless "brand".

Would be like they entered into an agreement with Bed Bath and Beyond for toiletries and linens several years after they went kaput

 

[CO skier]

From the last earnings call:

"We also recently launched the Eddie Bauer Adventure Club in partnership with Authentic Brands Group. Sales are now underway, and the first resort in Moab, Utah, is set to welcome owners in early 2026. This progress builds on a year of expansion, where we've grown our portfolio with Sports Illustrated Resorts, a core vacation club, and Margaritaville Vacation Club locations. Each brand targets a distinct traveler profile, expanding our reach and diversifying revenue streams. Sports Illustrated Resorts delivers immersive sports-themed experiences. A core vacation club expands our reach into a growing international market. Margaritaville Vacation Club offers a laid-back lifestyle built around fun and relaxation, and Eddie Bauer Adventure Club introduces an outdoor-focused brand."

 

[Eric B]

It should probably be "Accor Vacation Club" rather than "a core vacation club." I won't make the obvious joke about the Eddie Bauer Adventure Club actually being an out-of-business focused brand.

 

[CO skier]

out-of-business focused brand.

This is just another Eddie Bauer bankruptcy filing over the years.

It is a chapter 11 bankruptcy, not chapter 7. International operations will continue, with the North American operations transitioning to an online focus.

 

[Eric B]

I completely understand the situation with Eddie Bauer's bankruptcy - I did a summer internship with the U.S. Trustee during law school and know how these things work. I am happy to continue making fun of Wyndham for this, though, because of the obvious humor inherent in touting the association with a bankrupt business during an investor-focused earnings call. At least for Bluegreen there are still Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's in existence in the U.S. as potential counterparties to a strategic partnership that can be a source of customers; I'm not sure the Eddie Bauer website would have the same beneficial effect. Bottom line for me is that I would likely discount whatever effect was previously attributed to the partnership with Eddie Bauer following the bankruptcy news and I wonder if the Travel + Leisure folks knew of the potential when they made the licensing agreement with Authentic Brands Group.

 

[CO skier]

I wonder if the Travel + Leisure folks knew of the potential when they made the licensing agreement with Authentic Brands Group.

Considering the Eddie Bauer Adventure Club was first announced last July, Authentic Brands Group probably did not know about a potential bankruptcy at the time of the licensing agreement.

The chapter 11 bankruptcy is sure to get some discussion in the next TNL earnings call.

It is interesting to note that another of Authentic Brands Group brands is "Sports Illustrated."

 

[Floridaman76]

And we all know magazines are in huge demand these days. One has to wonder how much brand recognition Sports Illustrated even has anymore, or how close to bankruptcy they are.

With the alleged intent to "focus on the young", I wonder how many GenZ or Millennials even know what Sports Illustrated even is, and they probably only know Eddie Bauer as "boomer wear"

Strange fellows Wyndham seems to be hitching their wagon to

 

[Eric B]

First I had ever heard of Authentic Brands Group was when the Eddie Bauer Adventure Club was announced and I didn't look into it at all then. I've looked now and see it owns quite a portfolio of brands and doesn't really seem to do anything other than licensing the names. That sort of activity doesn't seem to add much in the way of value to the end consumer IMHO. I would be hard pressed to decide who I thought would come out worse from this situation; Travel + Leisure because of the impact of the bankruptcy on the good will for the Eddie Bauer brand or the other Eddie Bauer licensees because of the impact on the good will of the brand through its association with the timeshare industry. It seems fundamentally odd to me that some entity completely divorced from the quality of the goods and services provided under a brand name is the steward of the brand and its reputation; taken to the extreme the result could logically be an inverse relationship between price and quality because the incentive for the brand's steward is from licensing the name, not improving the quality.

 

[paxsarah]

And we all know magazines are in huge demand these days. One has to wonder how much brand recognition Sports Illustrated even has anymore, or how close to bankruptcy they are.

With the alleged intent to "focus on the young", I wonder how many GenZ or Millennials even know what Sports Illustrated even is, and they probably only know Eddie Bauer as "boomer wear"

Strange fellows Wyndham seems to be hitching their wagon to

My son is exactly in the middle of Gen Z and he had a print subscription to Sports Illustrated Kids when he was younger, so I think it's known by that age range. And SI is still a pretty prominent general source of sports news online. I can't say the same for Eddie Bauer. Even the Eddie Bauer branded Ford SUVs ended 15+ years ago.

 

[HitchHiker71]

First I had ever heard of Authentic Brands Group was when the Eddie Bauer Adventure Club was announced and I didn't look into it at all then. I've looked now and see it owns quite a portfolio of brands and doesn't really seem to do anything other than licensing the names. That sort of activity doesn't seem to add much in the way of value to the end consumer IMHO. I would be hard pressed to decide who I thought would come out worse from this situation; Travel + Leisure because of the impact of the bankruptcy on the good will for the Eddie Bauer brand or the other Eddie Bauer licensees because of the impact on the good will of the brand through its association with the timeshare industry. It seems fundamentally odd to me that some entity completely divorced from the quality of the goods and services provided under a brand name is the steward of the brand and its reputation; taken to the extreme the result could logically be an inverse relationship between price and quality because the incentive for the brand's steward is from licensing the name, not improving the quality.

Your treatise here reminds me of how the most successful modern businesses, particularly in the tech sector, or the Mag 7 as they are known, heavily embrace vertical integration - they own the entire stack in other words, networks, datacenters, hardware, software, etc., all of it. Tesla re-invented automobile manufacturing using a heavily vertically integrated approach for example - partly by necessity since they literally couldn't get any third parties to manufacture parts to their quality standards and specs, so they built those parts themselves, but the fact is that some of the most successful businesses on the planet today, leverage vertical integration, which means they are innately invested in every aspect of the quality of their goods and services under their brand names. The broader market seems to leverage a distributed integration model (complex supplier relationships, dealer networks for selling their products, etc.) that, as you said, discourages a focus on goods quality and good brand management. The more businesses outsource key elements of what they do, the worse off they are in today's world. Vertical integration is the new business model, and those businesses that fail to make this important transition, won't survive long term.

 

[DeeDibble]

I have been on 6 "owner updates" this year and I'm pretty certain that 5 of the 6 told me that they were a "members' service center" now, rather than a "sales site". (The one that didn't say that was a World Mark property, but even then, the guy told me he was a "manager", not a salesperson.) At least a couple of them started out by saying that they were "managers" and "couldn't even sell you any points if you wanted to buy", yet somehow, miraculously, toward the end of the conversation, it always turned to that they would be able to make an exception and sell me the points I needed for them to be able to "help maximize my account" for me.

The last 2 meetings they claimed to be member services centers. They ultimately wanted us to do another purchase