Five best practices for retailers to manage cash, cut costs, and stay afloat as debt comes due

In late 2017, a Bloomberg headline read, “America’s ‘Retail Apocalypse’ Is Really Just Beginning.” The main culprit, the authors suggested, was the amount of high-yield debt on company balance sheets, which would balloon just as a record wall of debt across all industries came due.

The first half of 2024 saw a number of high-profile insolvencies in the fashion sector including the online retailer Matches Fashion and brands such as The Vampire’s Wife and Roksanda. Indeed Matches was reported to have owed over £35.9 million to various luxury brands, with a low percentage in respect of the amount recovered for supplier brands.

So, what can brands do to guard against retailers and wholesalers in the fashion supply chain becoming insolvent?

Retention of title – Incorporate a robust clause into your sale contracts