Washington Mutual (WaMu)

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Founded in Seattle in 1889, Washington Mutual grew from a local savings institution into a household-name lender and retail bank. It made thrift banking feel less like a marble-column appointment and more like somewhere ordinary people could walk into.

Expansion became its defining habit. In the 1990s, WaMu built a national footprint through acquisitions including American Savings, Great Western Financial, and H. F. Ahmanson & Co., parent of Home Savings of America. In 2005, it added credit-card lender Providian Financial.

By 2007, Seattle-based Washington Mutual, Inc. ranked seventh among U.S.-based bank and thrift holding companies by consolidated assets. Then came 2008, when the mortgage-market crash turned a familiar neighborhood-bank logo into a very large cautionary tale.

On September 25, 2008, regulators closed Washington Mutual Bank and the FDIC became receiver. JPMorgan Chase acquired substantially all of the bank’s assets and liabilities; the holding company filed for Chapter 11 the following day. The friendly green-and-red storefront era was over, with brutal corporate efficiency.

Our Washington Mutual (WaMu) collection celebrates Seattle thrift-store swagger, friendly-bank optimism, and the unmistakable look of a financial giant that once made banking feel almost weirdly approachable.