Saks Global is making progress on priority number one: getting vendors to resume shipping.
There are other priorities, like replacing sales associates and merchants who defected to the competition, primarily Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom. Among the departed, Yumi Shin, the former chief merchandising officer of Bergdorf Goodman who is expected to join Nordstrom, and Dayna Ziegler, former senior vice president and general merchandise manager at Saks Global, who joined Macy’s in a similar role overseeing ready-to-wear. Also, Roopal Patel, senior vice president of the fashion office for Saks Global, left the company.
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Around mid-March, Saks Global hopes to cross an important hurdle—getting a new business plan approved by the bankruptcy court. The plan would set plans and goals and could indicate what vendors are highly anxious about—more luxury store closings on top of the nine previously revealed. There’s speculation that at least another 10 or 11 locations, primarily Saks Fifth Avenues, could be shuttered.
But for now, Saks Global executives want to convey that there is progress getting vendors shipping again and spring goods are flowing into the stores. Without that, Saks Global and its Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman businesses would be doomed.
The development follows the securing of access to $825 million of $1.75 billion in committed capital, which includes another $325 million following the company’s second day hearing on Feb. 20. The company also secured the ability to access an additional $300 million under its committed financing package in the coming weeks.
“Deploying this new liquidity in the business is really allowing us to support day-to-day operations and go-forward commitments with our brand partners,” Darcy Penick, president and chief commercial officer of Saks Global, said in an interview with Sourcing Journal sister publication WWD. “I think we’re seeing tremendous momentum in this. Inventory continues to normalize. Customers notice the change. We still see a very strong engagement amongst our customers. We’re seeing this resurgence of the business.”
The funding is helping rectify severe inventory shortages from the lack of liquidity and broken promises that hindered the company during 2025 and, combined with a debt load that couldn’t be serviced, pushed Saks Global into bankruptcy last January. The company’s future rests on continuing to strengthen the flow of goods to its stores and websites, reversing negative sales trends and the economy skirting a recession.
Penick disclosed that shipping agreements have been secured with “an initial cohort” of 120 luxury conglomerates and independent brands to resume shipping. Since mid-January, a total of 380-plus brands have resumed shipping, releasing inventory receipts with a retail value of about $1.2 billion, representing 75 percent of planned receipts for the first quarter, which runs from February to April. Included are Saks Global’s top 50 vendors. A year ago, Richard Baker, the ousted former chief executive officer of Saks Global, said the company operated with about 2,600 vendors, and 500 to 600 would be cut from the matrix, leaving about 2,000.
Among the vendors that have worked out agreements or are close to finalizing agreements to ship Saks Global are LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Kering, Estée Lauder Cos. Inc., Christian Louboutin, Burberry, Brandon Maxwell and American contemporary brands including Frame, Alice + Olivia, Rag & Bone, Lafayette 148 and Zankov.
For many of the vendors, including Lafayette 148, Brandon Maxwell and Louboutin, it’s a matter of resuming deliveries after putting a halt on shipping due to unpaid bills.
Negotiating the agreements with vendors is the new Saks Global management team led by CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck; Penick, and Lana Todorovich, chief global brand partnerships officer. They all previously held top positions at the Neiman Marcus Group, which Saks Global purchased for $2.7 billion in December 2024.
Efforts at rebuilding vendor partnerships are also being led by Tracy Margolies, president of Bergdorf Goodman, and Paolo Riva, chief buying officer for Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus.
As WWD reported, “critical” vendors have been determined. They will receive DIP numbers setting them up for prioritized payments, as part of the pool of “go-forward” vendors. DIP numbers enable post-petition shippers to get paid on a new schedule to be determined by the court. With these DIP numbers, merchandise to Saks, Neiman’s and Bergdorf Goodman could arrive relatively quickly, since many vendors held back shipments last year as the luxury retailer failed to meet commitments and the business was hemorrhaging.
Sources said that with these new agreements, payment terms are those that were in place prior to the bankruptcy filing, which occurred last January. Some vendors were on a 60-day schedule, others 90 days. It’s expected that if and when Saks Global emerges from bankruptcy, payment terms would revert to those that were in place prior to Saks Global’s acquisition of NMG. While now receiving spring shipments from vendors, Saks Global has also begun placing orders for fall 2026 shipments.
Asked about payment terms to the vendors, Penick replied, “The expectation is that we are resuming business according to what that looked like at a by-brand level prior” to the bankruptcy.
“They were not all the same pre-filing,” Todorovich added. “They were all very different.”
Regarding potential store closings, Penick said, “We have made announcements around changes in our footprint, and we will always continue to evaluate with, let’s call it, the ultimate goal of building a business position for profitable, sustainable growth. That is how we’re going to continue thinking about this in the future. It’s important that we are doing thoughtful assessments to support the business needs.”
Penick said that 75 percent of first-quarter receipts are confirmed for shipping. “That’s really critical, but we are still relatively early in this process, when you think about the six weeks since the [bankruptcy] filing we’ve had getting to this point,” she said. “The fact that 75 out of 100 percent of what we expected this quarter is committed to start shipping sends really good signals. We are ahead of where you might expect us to be at this point, in getting goods flowing again.”
Penick said Saks Global is “really focused on getting back to an ordinary course of business,” meaning heading toward a more normalized flow of goods but not there yet.
“In addition, we are in the midst of fall market and having active conversations around ensuring that we are continuing to focus on exclusivity and negotiating distribution,” Penick added. “These agreements put us in a position to go back to having those conversations where we’re focused on the future of our business. We are really moving quickly into those next-step conversations for the future.”
“When there were liquidity pressures before the bankruptcy filing, those receipts had slowed meaningfully. So there is a rebuild that’s required for us,” Todorovich said.
With the top 50 brands now on board, “I anticipate this to be a really, really large percent of our business. The idea is that these agreements assume continuation of business as it had existed — really business as usual. We are having hundreds of those conversations, as you can imagine, with our brand partners. We continue to be in touch with more and more brands as we go through this process. But the intent is to resume all the delightful things that we do in our business, with a real focus on the customer. We see very healthy inventory improvement.
“At this point, we are releasing orders from three times as many brands and receipts as we did in January, and this momentum continues week to week. Our inventory receipts were up, for example, 30 percent last week as compared to the prior year. This story about brands releasing inventories is really mostly within our wholesale model, but with our concession inventory, the flow is business as usual, across all of our categories.”
Brands operating concession or leased shops inside Saks or other stores manage the merchandising and pricing of products. Unlike wholesaling, Saks Global doesn’t own the goods, but takes in the money from goods sold and later pays the vendors, which pay rent on the space they occupy.
With bringing some newness to several stores and catching up to what shoppers would expect to see this time of year, “a meaningful change was beginning to take shape by the first and second week of February and the pace really picked up pace in the last couple of weeks,” Penick said. “You can actually start to see meaningful difference when you walk through some of our stores already, and our sales associates are reacting, and getting a great reaction from our customers.…The receipts that these brands have released are almost 75 percent of what we bought and expect to receive for this entire quarter, and we are continuing to work diligently with the remaining brands to release that next wave of receipts and shipments, which is consistent with our open-to-buy in inventory cadence.”
Certain brands are resuming activations and exclusive collections with Saks Global, Todorovich pointed out.
“We did resume a lot of activations with our brands, partnering on events that all really speaks to the level of continuity in the business,” she said, citing a Bottega Veneta Valentine’s Day activation; bringing top clients to Milan and Paris fashion weeks, and upcoming events planned with Brunello Cucinelli and Schiaparelli, which Saks Global sells on an exclusive basis.
While some employees have defected to other stores, Penick maintained there’s “a stable of talent in our organization,” including those top sellers with books of clients generating in excess of $1 million in annual sales, bringing some continuity to the business and an asset Saks Global can “harness” as inventory receipts flow in.
With spring goods arriving, Penick and Todorovich expect pre-fall to be as timely as it’s been in past years, with goods arriving in the late May and June timeline. “I would anticipate that nothing changes in the cadence,” Penick said.
Needless to say, there’s a stark difference in how the new Saks Global team is dealing with vendors compared to the old regime and vendors hope the days of false promises, onerous payment terms and unpaid bills from the past regime are things of the past.
“We all make different arrangements, but whatever we come up with, it has to be better than before, and that could mean net 30 days with an 8 percent discount, or net 60 days, with a lower 4 percent,” said one fashion executive who requested anonymity. “The most important thing is, do the banks approve the shipments? This has to be worked out with the banks. We want to build a healthier model than before.”
In terms of negotiating getting situated more prominently in the stores, which all vendors want, “Changing space is the second phase,” the source said. “For now, Saks is so focused on getting goods in the stores. they have a lot of work to do. It’s a jigsaw puzzle there,” with a lot of pieces to put back in place.
“We are pleased to move forward with Saks Global and have resumed shipments,” Alexis Mourot, CEO of Christian Louboutin, said in a statement. “For more than 20 years, our partnership with Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman has played a defining role in building Christian Louboutin in the United States. Together, we have contributed to shape an important chapter of the American shoe luxury retail landscape. It would be a true loss, for the industry as a whole, to see such iconic retailers disappear. We stand alongside Saks Global, Geoffroy, and the entire management team and all Saks Global employees during this challenging period.”
“We have enjoyed an excellent relationship with Neiman Marcus, Saks and Bergdorf Goodman for over 30 years,” said Brunello Cucinelli, executive chairman and creative director of the brand that bears his name. “Since January, there has been a new team, which we find highly capable and whom we know very well. The team is led by Geoffroy van Raemdonck, supported by Lana Todorovich and their teams of product experts. This is what we have always valued: the focus is first and foremost on product, then brand contemporaneity, visual merchandising, lifestyle and other aspects. The entire team performed excellently with Neiman Marcus. We met them in New York, and they thoroughly explained the group’s new strategy, which is very clear: focus, elevation and a careful brand selection to remain in the absolute luxury segment. Therefore, we expect a year of strong growth, not only in revenue but also in brand image, which includes renewed and expanded spaces at Bergdorf Goodman.”
“For 30 years, we’ve championed strong retail partnerships as a cornerstone of our business,” said Deirdre Quinn, CEO and cofounder of Lafayette 148. “Our relationship with Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman reflects that long-term perspective and trust built over decades. We have confidence in the direction the Saks Global leadership team is setting and remain focused on supporting our partners and serving our customer. Having resumed shipments, we’re encouraged by the opportunities ahead and the strength of our continued collaboration.”
And a Chanel spokesperson added, “Saks Global is an important retail partner, and we are supportive of their efforts to successfully restructure and emerge from this process in a stronger position.” While Chanel did recently pull some goods out of some Saks Global stores, the spokesperson, said, “We continue to ship products across all three divisions in accordance with existing agreements without interruption.”
