Dear BoF Community,
Late last week, we started to receive DMs and WhatsApp messages with screenshots of a letter written by Saks Global CEO Marc Metrick to the more than 2,000 brands that populate the floors and e-commerce websites of Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman.
One DM we received from one New York fashion brand summed up the general sentiment: “We have not been paid by Saks for over a year. We also have unpaid invoices from Neiman’s and Bergdorf’s. This is a very, very big problem for the fashion world, especially for small brands who can’t act as banks and loan these large companies our products [which] we have paid to manufacture over a year and a half ago.”
In his letter, Metrick acknowledged the significant payment delays over the last 18 months. Going forward, he said that brands would be paid on net-90 days terms, meaning that brands would be paid 90 days after goods have been delivered. What’s more, Metrick said all outstanding payments — estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars — would be paid “in 12 instalments beginning in July 2025.”
Metrick was aiming to clear the air after months of uncertainty, but as retail correspondent Cathaleen Chen wrote in her analysis of the situation, the plan seems to have backfired.
“If customers are feeling bored when walking through the stores it’s because no one will ship to them anymore because they don’t pay their vendors and no one is allowed to talk about it,” the New York fashion brand continued. “Meanwhile, Saks is constantly throwing lavish parties for influencers and fashion insiders, which seem to be financed off of our backs.”
Delayed payments have been an issue in fashion since I can remember. Back in 2013, I wrote a pointed story about fashion’s poor payors, describing how retailers were stretching their payment terms from net-30 to net-60 days. Now Saks is talking about a standard of net-90 days, which makes operating a sustainable fashion business nearly impossible.
Indeed, Saks’ idea that independent businesses, whose very survival depends on getting in enough cash to pay for the development of next season’s collections (as well as to pay their employees and all other operating costs), should continue to finance the cash flow of a company that does $10 billion in combined revenue, is the latest sign of the growing power imbalance in the wholesale market that is increasingly in favour of big retailers, threatening the overall health of the fashion ecosystem. Still, a number of the brands Cathaleen spoke to have concluded that rather than continue to operate under onerous payment terms, they would rather just take their business elsewhere.
So what else can you do when retailers don’t pay? Back in 2021, Cathaleen wrote a helpful guide, outlining some of the key steps you can take to mitigate — if not entirely remove — the potential consequences of late payments. And earlier this week, she outlined how emerging brands can solve the wholesale puzzle.
Meanwhile, as we pointed out in our This Week in Fashion newsletter yesterday, Saks needs to earn back the trust that it has lost by paying on schedule, and on-time, even if it is slower than brands would like. This is key to growing a healthy fashion ecosystem, for everyone’s benefit.
You can be sure that BoF will continue to monitor the developments around the Saks story in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, please enjoy my other top picks from all our coverage from across BoF from the week gone by.
Here are my other top picks from our analysis on fashion, luxury and beauty:
1. Saks Wanted to Clear the Air With Brands. The Plan Backfired. Relations between Saks Global and many of the 2,000-odd brands stocked in its department stores appear to be worse than ever after the owner of Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman sent a letter last week setting new payment terms.
2. How Emerging Brands Can Solve the Wholesale Puzzle. Partnering with department stores and boutiques used to be the first and sometimes only option for new labels to break though. Today, that path often winds through Shopify and Instagram first, but multi-brand retailers still have an important role to play.
3. Chief Product Officers Are Fashion’s New Power Players. From Burberry to Michael Kors and Under Armour, brands are leaning on product chiefs to navigate economic uncertainty and reignite innovation.
4. How Crown Affair Became the Queen of It-Girl Hair Care. Dianna Cohen and Elaine Choi have built an insider favourite haircare label with signature products like the hair towel and brush-applied dry shampoo. Armed with a new funding round, they want to bring the brand to the masses.
5. Paolo Carzana: London’s Slow Fashion Poet. The Welsh designer’s fledgling label is set to draw a bigger spotlight at London Fashion Week this season.
This Weekend on The BoF Podcast
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Giles Duley began his photography career at an enviable pinnacle, shooting for GQ and Vogue and even touring with Oasis. Despite this early success, he found himself unfulfilled by the culture and sought a greater sense of purpose. Over time, his lens shifted from backstage glamour to the frontlines of conflict, where he began documenting the impact of war on ordinary lives. A life-altering moment came in Afghanistan when an IED explosion claimed three of his limbs, yet Duley returned to conflict zones with a renewed commitment to capturing stories of love and resilience.
“There is a connection from where I started to where I am now which is stories and empathy,” he says. “There’s the story, there’s the storyteller, and then there’s the amplifier. And what brands and individuals can do is be those amplifiers to make sure those stories are heard around the world. … I’ve realised the way I live my best life is to make sure others are living their best life – and that is my purpose.”
Through his Legacy of War Foundation, Giles demonstrates how creativity and empathy can break down barriers, urging each of us to use our own platforms and talents to enact meaningful change.
Wishing you all a great weekend!
Imran Amed, Founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief, The Business of Fashion