Once-cool (oh so long ago), underground designer Marc Ecko and his clothier and lifestyle empire is apparently on the ropes. This is the man, the savage, who paid $750,000 for Barry Bonds' HR record baseball, only to brand it with an asterisk and possibly launch it into outer space.  (I remember that was discussed, though he may have given it to the Hall of Fame instead).

Dude looks like a cross between Chris "Corky" Burke and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

Scrambling to save his millions, according to this story from last month in the Post, he's exploring just about every route to avoid bankruptcy, pay back defaulted loans, and make good on hundreds of millions of dollars in manufacturers' bills.  Also, he built a crucial mansion in Jersey complete with hand-painted wallpaper (fucking expensive) and over $180K in "custom doorknobs".  And that's not including the company's ridiculous 280,000 square foot facility on West Twenty-Third Street.  It even has a half-court B-ball court inside.  This dude is the quintessential narcissist.  He definitely jerks off into a mirror and writes poems about it.

A few years ago, Tommy Hilfiger's company and another were bidding on this brand and its assets to the tune of $500 million.  Hindsight is 20/20, ain't it?  $500 million.  Think about that.  Not strange that an ego-maniac like Ecko would turn it down.  Without it, what would be be?  I'll tell ya, just another schlub with $500 million.  And possibly a ruined baseball.

For more on this, and the full, company-wide memo he sent out yesterday about the status of the company, check out the story via Gawker.