Northwest files bankruptcy, cites ‘a series of unfortunate events’

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, April 20 – Northwest Co., LLC filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy Saturday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

President and chief executive officer Ross Auerbach said in a statement filed with the court that “a series of unfortunate events that started several years ago led to significant liquidity issues in the debtors’ business.”

Specifically, Auerbach said quality control issues resulted in lost sales opportunities, the U.S. government imposed a tariff of 25% on bags and backpacks imported from China in 2018 and overall sales decreased in recent years in the wake of declines in the retail sector in general.

“As a result of these factors, the debtors took the necessary step of commencing these cases preserve and maximize the value of their assets,” Auerbach said.

According to court documents, Northwest has $10 million to $50 million in assets and $50 million to $100 million in debt.

The company’s largest unsecured creditors are Ashford Textiles, LLC USA of Gardena, Calif., with a $25.7 million trade claim; Suzhou Megatex Import & Export of Jiangsu, China, with a $5.15 million trade claim; NFL Properties LLC of New York, with a $3.37 million license fees claim; Grupo Textil Providencia SA of Tlaxcal, Mexico, with a $2.37 million trade claim; Distribution Alternatives of South Lino Lakes, Minn., with a $2.29 million warehouse fees claim; Lianyungang Feiyan Blankets Co. of Jiangsu, China, with a $1.94 million trade claim and a $1.11 million trade claim; Heiwei USA LLC of Chicago, with a $1.78 million trade claim; Standard Fiber LLC of Burlingame, Calif., with a $1.43 million trade claim; Exeter Operating Partnership of Conshohocken, Pa., with a $1.23 million trade claim; and IMG Models LLC of New York, with a $1 million trade claim.

Sills Cummis & Gross PC is representing Northwest in its Chapter 11 proceedings.

Northwest is a Roslyn, N.Y.-based branded home textiles company. The Chapter 11 case number is 20-10990.

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