Canadian entrepreneur Alex Tilly has put Tilly's Endurables Inc. up for sale, according to Canadian media reports.
Tilly, 77, has hired BDO Canada Transaction Advisory Service Inc. to find a buyer for the business, according to a newspaper ad that appeared in the Toronto newspapers last week. The company is well known in outdoor and adventure travel circles for its wide-brimmed and vented hats that come with a lifetime warranty and four-page owner's manual.
The company traces it roots back to 1980 when Tilly, who was then working full time as an art dealer in Toronto, decided to design a hat that would not blow off and sink during outings on his 30-foot sail boat. After years of selling the hats and shorts at boat shows, he founded a mail order company in 1984 and devoted himself to the business full time. The hats caught on with paddlers and other outdoor adventurers and Tilly steadily added apparel and accessories items. Today it continues to manufacture all its products in Canada, except for socks and water bottles, which it sources from Iowa and Washington state.
The company sells through six stores in Canada, its website and 3,800 retailer partners as well as a catalog that reached more than 300,000 customers in 18 countries, according to The Financial Post.
