The once high-flying Salt Life clothing company — which originated in Jacksonville Beach — declared bankruptcy last month and the chain’s new owners plan to shutter its retail locations.
The ubiquitous brand spawned a semi-serious inside joke among locals in recent years who claimed it served as an identification stamp for out-of-state transplants.
The coastal lifestyle label’s parent company, Delta Apparel Inc., which purchased it in 2013 for $37 million, filed for Chapter 11 protection and put it up for sale.
The company cited ebbing demand and rising production costs in bankruptcy papers.
Iconix International Inc. and Hilco Merchant Resources snapped up the company for $38.4 million — and filed closing procedure documents along with their bid, according to the Jacksonville Daily Record.
Salt Life’s flagship location in Jacksonville Beach — one of its 28 stores in 10 states — has a sign stating that it’s “temporarily closed.”
The Salt Life Food Shack restaurants that use the brand’s logo are owned separately from the clothing company and are not impacted by the bankruptcy proceeding.
The apparel arm had nearly $26 million in sales over the six months ending March 31 – but was still operating heavily in the red with little chance of reversing its fortunes.
“Founded in 2003 by four avid watermen from Jacksonville Beach, Florida, the Salt Life brand has widespread appeal with ocean enthusiasts worldwide,” the company states on its website.
One of those founders, Michael Hutto, was sentenced to 12 years in prison last year after pleading guilty to a manslaughter rap for the killing of his 18-year-old girlfriend in 2020.
Then 56, Hutto accidentally gunned down Lora Grace Duncan in a Palm Beach resort before fleeing the scene and later getting arrested outside a St. Augustine gas station.
Hutto sold his interest in Salt Life long before the incident in 2013.
