GoLite has closed 14 of its 20 stores and filed for bankruptcy in an effort to stave off a liquidation of its assets, according to court documents.
Coupounas LLC, which does business as GoLite LLC, filed its petition for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Colorado Oct. 13.
GoLite was co-founded by Demetri “Coup” and Kim Coupounas in 1998 to make lightweight hiking gear and apparel. The company launched its products at the Outdoor Retailer trade show in 1999, but converted to a direct-to-consumer model in 2010 and began rapidly opening retail stores. By 2014 it had opened 20 stores and quintupled in size, but had incurred significant losses.
In a motion filed Oct. 15, the company is seeking approval to reject leases for 13 of the 14 stores it has closed, including four in Colorado, three in Utah, two in Oregon and one each in Arizona, California, Idaho and New Mexico.
The petition lists assets and liabilities of less than $10 million, including nearly $5 million owed its top 20 largest creditors. GoLite’s top creditor, A Garment (HK) Limited of Hong Kong, is owed $1.34 million. Other creditors include landlords for GoLite stores and six other companies in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan.
GoLite filed an emergency motion Oct. 20 seeking debtor in possession financing needed to keep the company operating until such time as it can sell the company as a going concern.
“The debtor believes that a shut down liquidation is not in the best interest of creditors and significant amounts of “going concern” value would be lost is such a process,” reads the motions.
Coup and Kim Coupounas own 70 and 20 percent respectively of the company, while the remaining 10 percent is owned by Angelyn Kongures, court records show.
