Stax is back, saved by founders of sneakerhead marketplace

For the past a month and a half, the website of Australian activewear brand Stax has been replaced by a customer FAQ page that states: “SALE IS CLOSED”.

The company, which was best known for form fitting activewear with minimal branding, collapsed in June after its lender, NAB, called in receivers to try to recover millions in debts owed to several parties.

But one day, and no one is quite sure when, the site will be back up and running. “This is a fresh start for Stax,” said entrepreneur and Stax’s new co-owner, Justin Truong.

“This is such an iconic Australian brand that we want to give it another chance. It could have been sold off to a faceless corporation that could strip it for parts.”

Truong and wife and business partner Sandy Li-Truong have led a private investor group to acquire Stax in a rescue deal that makes them the new majority owners. The athleisure label left behind debts of $6.7 million to employees, creditors and the tax office after being handed over to receivers in late June.

It is not clear what, if anything, those parties will get out of the sale; the Truongs declined to discuss the financials of the deal and were also coy about how exactly they would avoid the pitfalls of the retail trade, where Stax competes against numerous other brands such as Lululemon, LSKD and White Fox all offering very similar products.

“Our focus is really building this with strong foundations and rebuilding Stax, so we can earn the trust of the really incredible, valuable, loyal community that the brand has built along the way,” said Justin Truong.

The couple do have experience in the industry as the owners of Pushas, an online sneaker, streetwear and collectibles reseller. The shoe fanatics started selling their own sneakers in 2017 to fund their increasingly expensive hobby and turned it into a global marketplace. With backing from Justin Kan, a co-founder of the massive streaming service Twitch, and Airtasker founder Tim Fung, it now turns over $10 million-plus a year selling several thousands of authenticated items such as Air Jordans, Yeezys and Labubus a week to collectors in Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada.

In a crucial difference from Stax, Pushas sells other companies’ brands, not its own. The Truongs, who acquired Stax alongside a handful of family offices for an undisclosed sum, are not interested in running their new business themselves. They are expecting to sign the paperwork to announce a new chief executive who will build out a team to restart operations for the assets they have acquired, which include its trademarks, IP, and digital assets.

“It won’t be an entirely new team,” Truong said. “We’ll see who in the previous team we’ll bring back. It’s good to have continuity.”

He will sit on the board as chairman; the new Stax will run independently of Pushas. “As owners, we don’t want to overstep,” he said.

The rescue deal transfers the activewear brand from the hands of one entrepreneurial married couple to another. Founded in 2015, founders Don Robertson and wife Matilda Murray built Stax from the ashes of a previously failed business, an online supplement brand that was liquidated. The pair’s pivot to selling hoodies, merchandise and luxury activewear under the Stax brand saw the married couple debut on The Australian Financial Review’s Young Rich List in 2022, and worth an estimated $70 million as of 2025.

Stax expanded aggressively into physical stores in 2022 and operated at least eight, but closed six in 2025 after rent costs increased and customers tightened their wallets following rapidly rising interest rates and high inflation.

On July 13, the pair issued an apology through Instagram for the sudden collapse of the high-profile brand that had been spotted on Jennifer Lopez, Megan Fox, Hailey Bieber.

“I want to know that we have heard you,” the pair wrote in a joint Instagram post in their first public comments about the collapse that infuriated hundreds of customers over delayed or missing orders.

“We’re truly sorry for this and for not communicating earlier … Knowing that many of our customers have been impacted is something we carry every day.”

Stax owed over $453,000 to employees and nearly $6.3 million to creditors, according to documents filed to the corporate regulator, including $123,858 to the tax office and $1.9 million to Chinese supplier Ningbo Mingna Garments. Google, Meta, and Scentre were also owed payments in the hundreds of thousands.

Truong argues any brand that achieved the size and reach of Stax is a great business. “Sometimes things happen,” he said.

“Credit where credit is due, I think Don and Matilda built an amazing brand. There’s definitely a great business that that can be built from it.”

Sandy Li-Truong said the trust customers had in Stax made the company appeal to her. The new entity will be run with “operational discipline”, and the couple are looking at support avenues for customers impacted by unfulfilled orders, she added.

“While those orders pre-date our ownership of the business, we recognise the impact this has had on the STAX community and we want to explore what we can do as a gesture of goodwill.”

FTI Consulting receiver Asjadi Hone said he was proud to facilitate the sale.

“The new owners will appoint a team to focus on rebuilding the brand while maintaining the product quality, inclusivity and community connection that has defined Stax since its launch.”

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