exv10w45



 




Exhibit 10.45



WILSONS THE LEATHER EXPERTS INC.

EMPLOYEE STOCK PURCHASE PLAN



     1.     Purpose and Scope of Plan. The purpose of this Wilsons The Leather
Experts Inc. Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “Plan”) is to provide the
employees of Wilsons The Leather Experts Inc. (the “Company”) and its
subsidiaries with an opportunity to acquire a proprietary interest in the
Company through the purchase of its common stock and, thus, to develop a
stronger incentive to work for the continued success of the Company. The Plan
is intended to be an “employee stock purchase plan” within the meaning of
Section 423(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and shall be
interpreted and administered in a manner consistent with such intent.





     2.     Definitions.






		
	 	     2.1. The terms defined in this section are used (and capitalized)
elsewhere in this Plan:




		
	 	     (a) “Affiliate” means each domestic or foreign corporation that is
a “parent corporation” or “subsidiary corporation” of the Company,
as defined in Sections 424(e) and 424(f) of the Code or any
successor provision and whose participation in the Plan the Board
of Directors has expressly approved.




		
	 	     (b) “Board of Directors” means the Board of Directors of the
Company.




		
	 	     (c) “Code” means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended from
time to time.




		
	 	     (d) “Committee” means two or more Disinterested Persons designated
by the Board of Directors to administer the Plan under Section 13.




		
	 	     (e) “Common Stock” means the $.01 par value common stock of the
Company.




		
	 	     (f) “Company” means Wilsons The Leather Experts Inc., a Minnesota
corporation.




		
	 	     (g) “Compensation” means the gross cash compensation (including
wage, salary, commission, bonus, and overtime earnings) paid by the
Company or any Affiliate to a Participant in accordance with the
terms of employment.





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	 	     (h) “Disinterested Persons” means a member of the Board of
Directors who is considered a disinterested person within the
meaning of Exchange Act Rule 16b-3 or any successor definition.




		
	 	     (i) “Eligible Associate” means any employee of the Company or an
Affiliate whose customary employment is at least 20 hours per week
and who has been employed by the Company or an Affiliate for at
least 90 consecutive days prior to the first day of the relevant
Purchase Period; provided, however, that “Eligible Associate” shall
not include any person who would be deemed, for purposes of Section
423(b)(3) of the Code, to own stock possessing 5 percent or more of the
total combined voting power or value of all classes of stock of the
Company.




		
	 	     (j) “Exchange Act” means the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended from time to time.




		
	 	     (k) “Fair Market Value” of a share of Common Stock as of any date
means, if the Company’s Common Stock is listed on a national
securities exchange or quoted on the Nasdaq National Market, the
mean between the high and low sale prices for such Common Stock on
such exchange or National Market on said date, or, if no sale has
been made on such exchange or National Market on said date, on the
last preceding day on which any sale shall have been made. If such
determination of Fair Market Value is not consistent with the then
current regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury applicable to
plans intended to qualify as an “employee stock purchase plan”
within the meaning of Section 423(b) of the Code, however, Fair
Market Value shall be determined in accordance with such
regulations. The determination of Fair Market Value shall be
subject to adjustment as provided in Section 14.




		
	 	     (l) “Participant” means an Eligible Associate who has elected to
participate in the Plan in the manner set forth in Section 4.




		
	 	     (m) “Plan” means this Wilsons The Leather Experts Inc. Employee
Stock Purchase Plan, as amended from time to time.




		
	 	     (n) “Purchase Period” means a calendar quarter or such other period
of time as may be adopted by the Committee.




		
	 	     (o) “Recordkeeping Account” means the account maintained in the
books and records of the Company recording the amount withheld from
each Participant through payroll deductions made under the Plan.



     3.     Scope of the Plan. The total number of shares of Common Stock
available for sale under this Plan shall not exceed 250,000 (subject to
adjustment as provided in Section 14). All sales of shares of Common Stock
pursuant to this Plan shall be subject to the




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same terms, conditions, rights and privileges. These shares may consist, in
whole or in part, of authorized but unissued Common Stock not reserved for any
other purpose.





     4.     Eligibility and Participation. To be eligible to participate in the
Plan for a given Purchase Period, an employee must be an Eligible Associate on
the first day of such Purchase Period. An Eligible Associate may elect to
participate in the Plan by filing an enrollment form with the Company before
the first day of such Purchase Period that authorizes regular payroll
deductions from Compensation beginning with the first payday in the Purchase
Period and continuing until the Eligible Associate withdraws from the Plan,
modifies his or her authorization, or ceases to be an Eligible Associate, as
hereinafter provided.





     5.     Amount of Common Stock Each Eligible Associate May Purchase.






		
	 	     5.1. Subject to the provisions of this Plan, each Eligible Associate
shall be offered the right to purchase on the last day of the Purchase
Period the maximum number of shares of Common Stock (including fractional
shares) that can be purchased at the price specified in Section 5.2 with
the entire credit balance in the Participant’s Recordkeeping Account;
provided, however, that (i) no more than 500 shares of Common Stock may
be purchased under the Plan by any Participant for a given Purchase
Period and (ii) no more than $25,000 in Fair Market Value (determined at
the beginning of each Purchase Period) of shares of Common Stock may be
purchased under the Plan and all other employee stock purchase plans, if
any, of the Company and the Affiliates by any Participant for each
calendar year. If the purchases by all Participants would otherwise
cause the aggregate number of shares of Common Stock to be sold under the
Plan to exceed the number specified in Section 3, however, each
Participant shall be allocated a ratable portion of the maximum number of
shares of Common Stock which may be sold.




		
	 	     5.2. The purchase price of each share of Common Stock sold pursuant
to this Plan will be the lesser of (a) or (b) below:




		
	 	     (a) 85% of the Fair Market Value of such share on the
first day of the Purchase Period.




		
	 	     (b) 85% of the Fair Market Value of such share on the
last day of the Purchase Period.



     6.     Method of Participation.






		
	 	     6.1. The Company shall give notice to each Eligible Associate of the
opportunity to purchase shares of Common Stock pursuant to this Plan and
the terms and conditions for such offering. Such notice is subject to
revision by the Company at any time prior to the date of purchase of such
shares. The Company contemplates that





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	 	for tax purposes the first day of a Purchase Period will be the date of
the offering of such shares.




		
	 	     6.2. Each Eligible Associate who desires to participate in the Plan
for a Purchase Period shall signify his or her election to do so by
signing an election form developed by the Committee. Such election form
will authorize the Company to withhold a portion of the Eligible
Associate’s Compensation paid for a regular pay period. The minimum and
maximum amount that may be withheld for any week during a pay period
shall be $10 and $100, respectively (e.g., $20 and $200, respectively,
for a two-week pay period). An election to participate in the Plan and
to authorize payroll deductions as described herein must be made before
the first day of a Purchase Period. The election shall be effective for
the first pay period in the Purchase Period immediately following the
filing of such election form and shall remain in effect unless and until
the Plan is terminated or such Participant withdraws from the Plan,
modifies his or her authorization, or ceases to be an Eligible Associate,
as hereinafter provided.



     7.     Recordkeeping Account.






		
	 	     7.1. The Company shall maintain a Recordkeeping Account for each
Participant. Payroll deductions pursuant to Section 6 will be credited
to such Recordkeeping Accounts on each payday.




		
	 	     7.2. No interest will be credited to a Participant’s Recordkeeping
Account.




		
	 	     7.3. The Recordkeeping Account is established solely for accounting
purposes, and all amounts credited to the Recordkeeping Account will
remain part of the general assets of the Company.




		
	 	     7.4. A Participant may not make any separate cash payment into the
Recordkeeping Account.



     8.     Right to Adjust Participation or to Withdraw.






		
	 	     8.1. A Participant may, at any time during a Purchase Period, direct
the Company to make no further deductions from his or her Compensation.
Upon such action, future payroll deductions with respect to such
Participant shall cease. Any Participant who stops payroll deductions
during a Purchase Period may not thereafter resume payroll deductions
during such Purchase Period.




		
	 	     8.2 Except as otherwise provided in Section 8.1 with respect to
cessation of deductions, any Participant who wishes to increase or
decrease the deductions from his or her Compensation may do so only as of
the first pay period in a Purchase Period.





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	 	     8.3. At any time before the end of a Purchase Period, any
Participant may withdraw from the Plan. In such event, all future
payroll deductions shall cease and the entire credit balance in the
Participant’s Recordkeeping Account will be paid to the Participant,
without interest, in cash within 30 days. A Participant who withdraws
from the Plan will not be eligible to reenter the Plan until the next
succeeding Purchase Period.




		
	 	     8.4. Notification of a Participant’s election to increase, decrease,
or terminate deductions, or to withdraw from the Plan, shall be made by
filing an appropriate form with the Company.



     9.     Termination of Employment. If the employment of a Participant is
terminated for any reason, including without limitation death, disability, or
retirement, the entire balance in the Participant’s Recordkeeping Account will
be applied to the purchase of shares as provided in Section 10.1 as of the last
day of the Purchase Period in which the Participant’s employment terminated.





     10.     Purchase of Shares.






		
	 	     10.1. As of the last day of the Purchase Period, the entire credit
balance in each Participant’s Recordkeeping Account will be used to
purchase shares (including fractional shares) of Common Stock (subject to
the limitations of Section 5) unless the Participant has filed an
appropriate form with the Company in advance of that date (which either
elects to purchase a specified number of shares which is less than the
number described above or elects to receive the entire credit balance in
cash). Any amount in a Participant’s Recordkeeping Account that is not
used to purchase shares pursuant to this Section 10.1 will be refunded to
the Participant.




		
	 	     10.2. Promptly after the end of each Purchase Period, a certificate
for the number of shares of Common Stock purchased by all Participants
shall be issued and delivered to an agent selected by the Company. The
agent will hold such certificate for the benefit of all Participants who
have purchased shares of Common Stock and will maintain an account for
each Participant reflecting the number of shares (including fractional
shares) credited to the account of each Participant. Each Participant
will be entitled to direct the voting of all shares credited to such
Participant’s account by the agent. At any time, a Participant may
request from the agent a certificate representing the shares of Common
Stock credited to the Participant’s account, in which case the agent
shall transfer a certificate for such shares directly to the Participant;
provided, however, that the agent shall not be required to issue a
certificate representing a fractional share and may instead pay the
Participant a cash amount representing the fair market value of such
fractional share.



     11.     Rights as a Shareholder. A Participant shall not be entitled to any
of the rights or privileges of a shareholder of the Company with respect to
such shares, including the right to




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vote or direct the voting or to receive any dividends that may be declared by
the Company, until (i) the Participant actually has paid the purchase price for
such shares and (ii) certificates for such shares have been issued either to
the agent or to the Participant, both as provided in Section 10.





     12.     Rights Not Transferable. A Participant’s rights under this Plan are
exercisable only by the Participant during his or her lifetime, and may not be
sold, pledged, assigned or transferred in any manner other than by will or the
laws of descent and distribution. Any attempt to sell, pledge, assign or
transfer the same shall be null and void and without effect. The amounts
credited to a Recordkeeping Account may not be assigned, transferred, pledged
or hypothecated in any way, and any attempted assignment, transfer, pledge,
hypothecation or other disposition of such amounts will be null and void and
without effect.





     13.     Administration of the Plan. This Plan shall be administered by the
Committee, which is authorized to make such uniform rules as may be necessary
to carry out its provisions. The Committee shall determine any questions
arising in the administration, interpretation and application of this Plan, and
all such determinations shall be conclusive and binding on all parties.





     14.     Adjustment upon Changes in Capitalization. In the event of any change
in the Common Stock of the Company by reason of stock dividends, split-ups,
corporate separations, recapitalizations, mergers, consolidations,
combinations, exchanges of shares and the like, the aggregate number and class
of shares available under this Plan and the number, class and purchase price of
shares available but not yet purchased under this Plan may be adjusted
appropriately by the Committee.





     15.     Amendment of Plan. The Board of Directors may at any time amend this
Plan in any respect which shall not adversely affect the rights of Participants
pursuant to shares previously acquired under the Plan, except that, without
shareholder approval no amendment shall be made to (a) increase the number of
shares reserved under this Plan or (b) change the designation of corporations
whose employees may be eligible to participate in the Plan.





     16.     Effective Date of Plan. This Plan shall be effective upon approval
thereof by the shareholders of the Company. All rights of Participants in any
offering hereunder shall terminate at the earlier of (i) the day that
Participants become entitled to purchase a number of shares of Common Stock
equal to or greater than the number of shares remaining available for purchase
or (ii) at the discretion of the Board of Directors at any time following seven
days’ notice to Participants. Upon termination of this Plan, shares of Common
Stock shall be issued to Participants in accordance with Section 10, and cash,
if any, remaining in the Participants’ Recordkeeping Accounts shall be refunded
to them, as if the Plan were terminated at the end of a Purchase Period.





     17.     Governmental Regulations and Listing. All rights granted or to be
granted to Eligible Associates under this Plan are expressly subject to all
applicable laws and regulations




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and to the approval of all governmental authorities required in connection with
the authorization, issuance, sale or transfer of the shares of Common Stock
reserved for this Plan, including, without limitation, there being a current
registration statement of the Company under the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, covering the shares of Common Stock purchasable on the last day of the
Purchase Period applicable to such shares, and if such a registration statement
shall not then be effective, the term of such Purchase Period shall be extended
until the first business day after the effective date of such a registration
statement, or post-effective amendment thereto. If applicable, all such rights
hereunder are also similarly subject to effectiveness of an appropriate listing
application to a national securities exchange or a national market system,
covering the shares of Common Stock under the Plan upon official notice of
issuance.





     18.     Miscellaneous.






		
	 	     18.1. This Plan shall not be deemed to constitute a contract of
employment between the Company and any Participant, nor shall it
interfere with the right of the Company to terminate any Participant and
treat him or her without regard to the effect which such treatment might
have upon him or her under this Plan.




		
	 	     18.2. Wherever appropriate as used herein, the masculine gender may
be read as the feminine gender, the feminine gender may be read as the
masculine gender, the singular may be read as the plural and the plural
may be read as the singular.




		
	 	     18.3. This Plan, and all agreements hereunder, shall be construed in
accordance with and governed by the laws of the State of Minnesota.





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