The new owners of troubled activewear brand Stax will honour $1.7m of orders that never arrived with credits to 13,000 customers.
The Perth-founded retailer collapsed into receivership in June, owing staff, suppliers and the tax office $6.7m.
The new managers this week said customers with unfilled orders will get their money back.
“We weren’t legally required to, but it felt like the right thing to do … Under new management, we want to build in the open,” new chief executive Anna Cheng said.
“When we get something wrong, we’ll make it right. That’s a non-negotiable.”
People who made orders but paid through thrid-parties such as Afterpay or Zip will not get refunds from Stax, because that money should be refunded by the third-party payment platforms.
Stax’s new managers say they have received thousands of order records from vendors such as Shopify, with more to come in. Customers waiting for a refund should see a credit on their account when they login to the new Stax website next month; the credit expires June 30, 2027.
The popular activewear retailer went into voluntary administration in July. Documents from the administrators showed a little over $1.4m was owed on 11,182 unfilled orders, and just over $308,000 was owing on 1745 incomplete orders.
Staff were owed more than $450,000.
A third party logistics firm was holding more than $970,000 worth of stock while they were owed $400,000 in payments, while a $100,000 container of stock was sitting idle at a Chinese manufacturer.
National Australia Bank was out to the tune of $7.3m, and Australian small business lender Bizcap was owed $1.8m.
Founded by Don Robertson and Matilda Murray in 2015, Stax had a $30m turnover, employed 140 staff and operated 14 brick and mortar stores at its peak, including a flagship at Westfield Sydney.
The tight-fitting activewear was worn by Hailey Bieber, Megan Fox and Jennifer Lopez. But the brand’s rapid expansion of bricks and mortar stores came as inflation started running hot and the general public’s disposable income dried up.
In August, an Australian investor group purchased the business. That investor group is led by wife and husband Sandy Li-Truong and Justin Truong, who built their sneaker obsession up into a streetwear reselling business with annual turnover above $10m.
The Truongs installed the new chief executive, Ms Cheng, to run the business, and head of product Georgia Bachmann was lured back.
The new management have no immediate plans to re-open the bricks and mortar stores, but have been focused on a branding refresh.