Eddie Bauer, that boring bland suburban burp of threads, is getting back to its roots by hiring a "dream team" of mountaineers to design a new line. So now you can zip up and channel Sir Edmund Hillary. Sort of. In any event, come April EB will launch the creations from a vetted gathering of technical climbers and guides, including 25-year mountaineer vet Peter Whittaker; Ed Viesturs, who has stomped 8,000-meter peaks sans oxygen; Dave Hahn, who's summitted Everest ten times; guide Melissa Arnot; Alaskan pro Chad Peele; and cool-weathered science geek Seth Waterfall. Would I buy underwear from these guys? Probably not. A good FU foul weather jacket? Absolutely.

Long locked in the ho-hum with L.L Bean and Land's End, Eddie Bauer is not exactly high fashion. The clothes are practical, forgettably understated, and brutally boring. They're well-suited for bleary-eyed dads burping babies and making trips to the soccer field -- not exactly togs for a night on the town. But once upon a time, long before they lulled masses into flannel shirts and pleated chinos, Eddie Bauer had brand fame and proven testimonials from the field. They outfitted the first American to summit Mount Everest and made flight jackets for 50,000 American pilots during World War Il. But after the booming 1990s, when they did a snappy $100 million a year in business, things went south. In 2003, they filed for bankruptcy, and by 2007, the company was doing an anemic $10 million a year. Oh, and then earlier this year the company fired more than 15 percent of its employees. What happened?