GoLite Go Bye-bye?

Just received an email from GoLite announcing their "Going out of business" sale. The email includes a bankruptcy notice, so this looks like curtains for GoLite.

I'll be sad to see them gone from our gear supply landscape. Have shelters, backpacks and one or two pieces of GoLite clothing and am a happy and loyal customer.

They closed their retail outlets and filed for Ch. 11 a couple of months ago, but couldn't find an investor to take the place over, which is why they're liquidating.

Not my opinion, but someone else's: Paul Magnati blog comments on GoLite bankruptcy.

My personal opinion is that GoLite blew it when they stopped making the Reed rain pants. I have one of the last pair I could find available new, and they are awesome! When seeking discontinued items, sometimes it is helpful being bigger around than most women!

I wish I had known, before I bought all my gear. How does one find these sales?

Not too sure about this 20% off deal. GoLite was advertising their stuff at 50% off (although they never said of what) when they switched to selling only through their own stores/internet site. All their stock has been sold to a liquidation company, I understand, and the liquidation company is conducting the sale. 20% off isn't much when you consider no warranty or customer service.

I am bummed out that Golite is going out of business. I am a long-time fan and I felt lucky that I live and work so close to their stores.

I'm not business-savvy enough to comment on why they are failing, but I do know why I kept coming back to them. Several times when I started researching a piece of technical clothing or gear, it was uncanny hwo often they had just what I was looking for. And at a reasonable price. It may not always have been the best price, but being able to go into a store and pick it up and see it was a real advantage.

I will miss Golite, but at least I'll have their gear for a long time. I have enough to last a few years.

I'm with you, Dustin (except for the living near a store bit). They managed to "mainstream" a lot of gear that was either not available at all or only from cottage makers and IMHO did change the landscape some. Without GoLite I don't think we'd have Big Agnes, for example. It's a rough business, with slender margins and a lot of competition, and the industry is still recovering from the recession. I'm a little surprised nobody saw enough value to swoop in and buy them out and keep the brand going. Heck, North Face is probably on their fifth or sixth owner.

I'll keep several GoLite pieces in rotation, including the Shangrila 2 and 3, Jam, down quilt and down jacket. For anybody wanting to snag one of the remaining pieces, I advise going for it, warranty or no, if there's no equivalent from elsewhere. They're mostly fairly priced, even without the discount.

Cheers,

The history of gear companies is often quite interesting. Thanks to the internet and various websites, including company sites, you can find some of the stories about the early days of companies like TNF, K2, Sierra Designs and Jansport. Many of the early companies are gone, like Moss, Frostline, the original Eddie Bauer, or have merged or been bought by conglomerates like TNF and Jansport, now owned by VF.
There is an interesting interview with the founder of Go-Lite online. He admits making a few fundamental mistakes that put the company under, such as expanding the product line too wide and opening up to many retail stores. Btw, there is a big TNF store on Beverly in Beverly Hills. No idea who came up with the idea to put it there, but it must be making money.

Golite went bye bye when ray left the company. Ray Jardine made Golite successful. Their products got funky in a weird way after he left the company. Their backpacks and umbrellas are the only thing worth looking into. i still don't know why they have hip belts when rays packs are obviously hipbeltless

Of all the things to remove from a pack, the hip belt makes the least sense to me. A pack needs to almost levitate itself before a hip belt becomes superfluous, imo, because hips are much better suited to supporting weight than shoulders (and spines).

Isn't that the truth? Even a humble daypack needs a waistband (as opposed to a full belt) to keep the thing from banging about, especially on steep downhills.

In any case, as best as I recall he wasn't ever a formal "part" of the company; rather, he (reluctantly) licensed his designs to Coup for manufacture and marketing. And some of them were indeed very close to the plans and kits sold directly by Jardine himself. They were listed in the catalogs as "Ray Way."

Alongside these bits, strictly GoLite designs were also being sold and eventually formed the core of the business. Naturally there was an eventual falling out between the parties (nobody could have predicted...) but that's unlikely to account for any meaningful part of the company's demise.

Coup evidently has the old GoLite mailing list because I've been getting messages about his new startup My Trail, which he's busy capitalizing. Per the website he reacquired the GoLite designs and wants to put popular ones back into production. For anyone who missed out on a Shangrila or a Jam, there's hope.

My inner SEC demands I note this is not an investment endorsement. Thus endeth the disclaimer. My gen-you-wine hope is the relaunch is successful.

Cheers,

Now if he will just restart the GoLite Reed rain pants! Everyone missed them when they were discontinued.I have one of the last pair that were available new, which are probably now worth more than what I paid for them.

If I might suggest an available alternative, the Montbell Versalite rain pants might be able to replace your GoLite Reed pants when they finally bite the dust. They have worked well for me walking for hours of constant rain. They are bare bones in terms of features, but are also extremely lightweight. You might like them.

I doubt that I get to the point of needing new ones, but if I do, I'll remember that! Everyone thought that the Reeds were really special, and I really like the ones i have.