The Way Down

Ed did!

Ed loved the outdoors and took every opportunity to spend time there.

To earn money during the summers, he opened a small shop in downtown Seattle that he named after himself. There he built and repaired tennis racquets. Before long he started also selling hand-made golf clubs and fishing tackle.

One winter while out fishing, Ed developed hypothermia. After getting home he set about developing an alternative to the typical heavy wool clothes that most outdoorsman used at the time … and he did … a quilted goose down-insulated jacket. It was an immediate hit with friends and he started selling them at the store.

Two years later, the US Army Air Corp came calling and asked Ed to make special jackets for their World War ll airmen to keep them warm at high altitudes. Well the jackets were a hit too … and very unusually Ed was granted permission to put his own label on them, which never happens in the Armed Forces. Consequently, after the fliers returned home from the War they often wrote Ed to buy whatever he could supply.

So Ed started a mail-order catalog and with the servicemen scattered around the country, Ed gained important recognition. And his products just became more popular from there.

Today, Ed’s company, which started out in making tennis racquets before switching to innovative clothing, has over 370 stores across Canada and the U.S. and is still named after him … Eddie Bauer.

Eddie Bauer is a Great Idea because creatively marketing an innovative product can make your business take off.