Band of Outsiders is reportedly finished, according to Fashionista. The brand has laid off most of its staff, canceled all wholesale orders for the upcoming season, and has also decided not to produce the next collection due to a lack of funds.
This is heartbreaking news for fans, including a litany of celebrities, of the beloved brand. Band of Outsiders brought a distinctive look to preppy style and always seemed to go about its business in the right way by focusing on quality and producing clothes in the U.S..
Band of Outsiders launched in 2004, it just celebrated its 10-year anniversary, and was a nominee for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund only a short time later in 2008. Band of Outsiders also won the CFDA's New Menswear Designer of the Year award in 2009, and its Menswear Designer of the Year in 2010. Around that same time, the brand's designer, Scott Sternberg, told the Wall Street Journal that Band of Outsiders had annual sales in the ballpark of $12 million.
The last big news to come out of Band of Outsider's camp was that its former creative director was moving onto American Apparel. Looking back, that news is not a good sign that all was well with BofO. However, don't pile the dirt on Band of Outsiders just yet, it's just a report at this time and brands have been revived before.
