While merchants wait for the next big trend that will spur consumers to get over their reluctance to buy, the finance executives in the back office struggle to pay bills and keep credit flowing. As a result, many of their vendors are waiting for payment as well.

“This is a really tough period for the contemporary market, which is having a supercompetitive time,” said investment banker Richard Kestenbaum of Triangle Capital LLC.

Kestenbaum sees “the classic signs of a mature market” as customers who once rushed out for items like premium denim find their closets full, their budgets tight and their openness to buy all but essential items limited. The result has been sharp sales declines for stores and an increasingly complex credit picture for their suppliers.

And the pressure appears to be building on retailers in the sector, from Intermix to Barneys New York’s Co-op, Calypso to Scoop.

Barneys New York had problems with factors not approving credit in the past year, in part because of a lack of financial information from its Dubai-based owner Istithmar, which ultimately gave the chain a $25 million cash infusion. Now Barneys has brought Perella Weinberg Partners on board to help restructure the retailer’s debt and factors are approving orders — but there are still concerns regarding the specialty chain’s sales volume and bottom line.

Michael Appel, managing director of Quest Turnaround Advisors, who advised the two financial investors who bailed Barneys out of bankruptcy, believes Barneys Co-op is facing pressure from lackluster sales. “There’s so much competition. A lot of Co-op’s merchandise is in jeans, and with Seven For All Mankind opening stores as well as Lucky Brand Jeans, unless Co-op can make some distinction, the competition is brutal,” he said.

Neiman Marcus Group, owned by private equity firms TPG and Warburg Pincus, has also been hurt by sagging sales, and factors tightened credit earlier this year. The concern surrounding Neiman seems to have eased a bit, so there’s little concern now about its contemporary Cusp concept. Part of the renewed confidence stems from Neiman’s renegotiation last month of its asset-based revolving credit agreement, pushing its maturity date back to January 2013 from October 2010. The company said the facility, as well as a cash balance of more than $250 million, gave it enough liquidity to support growth.

Appel isn’t concerned about Neiman Marcus or Cusp, saying the purveyor of luxury fashion can weather the slowdown in consumer spending. He also thinks Scoop and Intermix have a reason to exist because the “two have great merchandising and put outfits together in an interesting way for customers. They do not merchandise by vendor classification as most retailers.”

However, he sees challenges ahead for all retailers in the sector: “That younger consumer, when things recover, will be shopping again, but maybe not at the same level as pre-2008.”

However, Scoop is battling factors no longer approving their orders, as well as employee lawsuits. Several factors said they hope Scoop’s private equity parent Yucaipa Cos. will become more forthcoming with financial information.

Joining the list of contemporary retailers said to be failing the credit check test is Intermix. Factors in the last month stopped approving orders to the roughly 24-store chain, according to financial sources, forcing vendors to ship the stores at their own risk.

“In this difficult economic climate and especially since we are dealing with these young, up-and-coming brands that need that financial security as their backbone, we have made it our absolute priority to ensure we pay our vendors on time and continue to nurture and grow these relationships,” said Khajak Keledjian, chief executive officer of Intermix. “We are really proud to say that we are 100 percent paid up on all of our vendor bills and have done so in a timely and responsible manner.”

Citing a confidentiality agreement with Intermix, Gary Wassner, president of Hilldun Factors, declined to discuss its financial results. He did say, however, that while his firm is not approving orders, Hilldun is “lending against client invoices.”

In a typical factoring arrangement where there is approval of credit, the risk of nonpayment of invoices is on the factor. When a vendor client elects to ship without credit approval, and its factor is lending against invoices, then the factoring firm has the right to seek reimbursement of the loan made against client invoices from the client.

Despite the nonapproval of credit by factors, financial sources said Intermix has been good about paying its bills and responds to phone calls promptly when collection managers want answers. In contrast, they said other retailers have been far less responsive to requests for information on when payment will be made.

“We are shipping Intermix, have a strong financial arrangement and are getting paid on time,” said Jane Siskin, chief executive officer of L’Koral Inc., which sells the LaRok and Elizabeth and James brands to Intermix.

“We are shipping them. In fact, our business with them has been really strong and we are completely paid to date,” added Adam Lippes, founder and creative director of Adam.

But according to suppliers, Intermix appears to have different payment schedules for different vendors, with some being paid a lot faster than others. In addition, the retailer may be reshuffling deliveries, asking vendors to delay some shipments.

Melissa Coker, who designs the contemporary line Wren in Los Angeles, ignored her factor’s recommendation not to do business with Intermix. Not only was it her first time selling to the established retailer, but it was also her largest order for the fall season. Even though Intermix declined to give a deposit and doesn’t set terms for payments, she sent the first delivery in late July.

“I still wanted to take the order because it’s so big,” Coker said. “I hope they’re paying.”

Michelle Jonas, the founder and designer of Los Angeles-based Michelle Jonas Travelwear, learned an important lesson from her first experience working with Intermix. The retailer requested 280 units of Jonas’ popular $390 floor-grazing gauze and lace dress that has been worn by celebrities such as Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Lopez.

Despite having misgivings over shipping such a large order of a summer style in July, Jonas manufactured the merchandise in Southern California and shipped it to Intermix. About three weeks later, Intermix told her it wanted to return the 200 dresses it couldn’t sell.

“I’m upset that Intermix shouldn’t have bought that many dresses,” she said.

Jonas suspected Intermix placed the large initial order with her because it tried to fill in gaps left by lean inventory in the beginning of summer. She said she has no choice but to take the unsold dresses back lest the retailer discount them and damage her brand. Fortunately, she said there are other stores in New York and Miami that can take the dresses Intermix couldn’t sell.

Next time, she said, “I will be very careful about the quantities that they take and have them pay COD [cash on delivery] when they arrive or 50-50 to at least cover costs for the goods.”

On the other hand, David Lazar, a partner in Los Angeles-based knit brand Twenty, said Intermix has been paying like clockwork. One of the first retailers to carry Twenty after it launched last spring, Intermix stands as one of the vendor’s top three accounts.

“Ethically, they’re one of the best out there,” he said. “They’re not out there canceling orders.”

Lazar did notice Intermix has been reshuffling deliveries, such as requesting orders arrive about a week later than scheduled. Still, he said he looks at that adjustment as a positive for the retailer. “You’re being flexible, and you’re also planning your business with peaks and valleys [in sales],” he said.

Calypso and Lisa Kline were cited as other retailers for which factors are neither issuing credit approvals nor advancing against client accounts.

Factors aren’t approving credit for stores such as Patricia Field as well as Ron Robinson’s boutique in Fred Segal, but they are advancing against client accounts if the vendors choose to take on the risk, said a credit source.

“We are able to pay our suppliers and we are getting credit,” Robinson said. “Our vendors will supply us because we’ve never missed a payment, and we have amazing relationships with them.”

Robinson said it has been harder to work with CIT Group Inc., which was pulled back from the jaws of bankruptcy by bondholders recently.

“We have amazing credit and we always pay, and they’ve been difficult,” Robinson said. “With the economy being so bad and everything being slow in general, we became slow to pay for a little while and took a 15-, 20-, 30-day longer period to pay — we’ve since cleared that up, and everything is on track.”

Credit specialists said Artizia and New York Look are among the stores getting credit approval, while Barami and Atrium are being approved only on an order-by-order basis.

“It’s impossible to pay on time when it’s a cash flow issue, but over the last six months we have been dedicated to paying what we need to and we have managed to pay all of our outstanding bills,” said Sam Ben-Avraham, president of Atrium.

“We are paying our vendors,” added Alan Fernandez, a buyer for Atrium. “Are we paying them on time? No. We are working to make sure they are paid as close to the deadline as possible, but the reality is, a 30-day deadline is nowhere near enough time in today’s day and age.

“We don’t move product as quickly as we were, so in most cases, there is no way we can pay in a 30-day period,” added Fernandez. “We are not immune to what’s happening in the world, but we are doing our best to manage inventory and doing what we can in order to survive and stand out strong.”

Failure to receive credit approval doesn’t always mean bad credit. It could be the chain isn’t providing sufficient information from which any decision could be made.

Ultimately, the problems within contemporary can be traced to soft demand, and retailers in this business face tough choices. While mainstream retailers may be rewarded for buying conservative merchandise in limited quantities, it clearly runs against the grain of contemporary. In the downturn, “there’s more reliance on what has proven to sell through. That diminishes innovation in fashion,” noted Triangle Capital’s Kestenbaum.

“I see no reason why existing retailers can’t adapt. They can be good businesses, but right now it is hard to be in a mature market during a terrible economy,” the banker said.