Author: Cathaleen Chen

Eight Saks Fifth Avenues stores and one Neiman Marcus location will shutter as the first phase of parent company Saks Global’s plan to reduce its retail footprint in bankruptcy.The goal is to reestablish Saks Global and its remaining stores as “the ultimate destinations for luxury with a seamless multi-channel shopping experience,” CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck said in a statement. In practice, that means investing in profitable locations where customers are most willing to pay full price. Affected locations include the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, NJ; Biltmore Fashion Park in Phoenix; the Shops at Canal Place in New Orleans;…

For consumers, years of sticker shock at soaring prices have given way to weary acceptance. Hikes that once sparked outrage on social media — such as the cost of Prada’s mini nylon bag zooming from $725 in 2019 to $1,270 today — are so common they rarely draw attention anymore. Then there’s the curious case of Me+Em’s Palazzo trousers. The London-based brand’s signature wide-legged bottoms retail for £59 ($99), the same price as when they were introduced nearly two decades ago. In that time, Me+Em has grown from a single store to an increasingly global enterprise with 15 locations, looking…

Just when fashion was getting used to the Trump administration’s tariffs, global politics intervened.A little under a week ago, president Donald Trump threatened to more than double tariffs on European countries that had expressed opposition to his desire to take control of Greenland from Denmark. A few days later, he abruptly reversed course, taking new tariffs off the table, claiming he had reached a “framework of a future deal” over the territory’s future. The whole episode technically left no marks on the fashion industry – tariffs were never actually raised and trade deals weren’t torn up. But it served as…

Daniel Herrmann doesn’t want to talk about elevation strategies — at least not explicitly.The managing director of H&M-owned COS believes elevation is a matter of perception, and true elevation comes from the customer experiencing the products you create.It’s a notable stance for someone who has presided over an unexpected retail success story, with COS landing among Lyst’s top 10 hottest brands in 2025 seemingly out of nowhere. Since taking the helm in April 2024, Herrmann has steered the brand through a moment in which it has emerged as a darling of the “quiet luxury” movement, capturing customers trading down from…

When Saks Global finally announced its bankruptcy filing this week after months of financial strain, it evoked less shock than relief from within the fashion industry. After all, the value of the retailer’s debt had been sliding since last spring, signalling investors at least were losing faith. That sentiment was increasingly shared by vendors chasing missing payments and ordinary shoppers who noticed some of their favourite brands were suddenly missing from Saks and Neiman Marcus stores. Saks’ Chapter 11 filing revealed $3.4 billion owed to creditors, but also included a plan to continue operating — and pay vendors — with…

After months of speculation, Saks Global — the parent of Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Bergdorf Goodman — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday. The filing reveals a troubling snapshot of the company’s unpaid bills to the fashion world, with Chanel as the largest unsecured creditor with roughly $136 million in claims, followed by Gucci-owner Kering at around $60 million and LVMH at about $26 million.From there, the ledger reads as a who’s-who of luxury, with names including Capri Holdings, Mayhoola and Richemont also on the roster of creditors. One Shanghai-based brand, Rosen-X, also made the ranking, coming…

Saks Global has entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the company announced on Wednesday, in a fresh shock to a global luxury industry still struggling to emerge from a severe downturn. The immediate cause of the filing was a $100 million interest payment due on Dec. 30. The department store operator said it had considered various options to generate liquidity before concluding that restructuring with debtor-in-possession financing would be the most viable path to survival. In a statement, the company said it had entered voluntary Chapter 11 with support from key financial stakeholders, and that it has secured $1.75 billion in…

Jimmy Fairly operates more than 160 stores worldwide, from the Mediterranean island of Majorca and London’s Covent Garden to a few dozen across Paris. But the sunglasses brand took its time setting up a location in the US. Though online sales in America have been soaring for years, its first store in the country, on New York’s Nolita corridor, opened only in December. “I wanted to wait to be strong enough,” said founder and president Antonin Chartier. “We waited three years to make sure we had enough resources, making sure we had the right location and the right team.” Jimmy…

If Saks Global files for bankruptcy in the coming days, the hundreds of brands that ship merchandise to Saks, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman stores will be at the back of the list of creditors. They will likely receive partial payments on what they’re owed, at best. And in a worst-case scenario, if the retailer can’t reach a deal with creditors, it may close its stores and liquidate its inventory, much like Barneys in 2019 and Matches Fashion in 2024. In both cases, brands that had too much of their inventory and future sales tied up in those retailers took…

No matter how bad things get in the world of multibrand retail, there always seems to be someone who thinks they’ve cracked the code. Matchesfashion, which shuttered last year, has been saved, again — this time by two young entrepreneurs who acquired the online luxury retailer’s intellectual property. The e-tailer will relaunch as simply Matches next year, its new operators said. Matches isn’t the only multibrand retailer given a lifeline this week. Ssense, which filed for bankruptcy protection in August owing over $200 million to lenders and suppliers, received another extension to restructure its business. It now has until Feb.…