‘We want to show our sincerity’: Stax relaunches with credit program for lost orders

Rescued activewear brand Stax will relaunch its new online store on Friday November 6 with a fresh collection and a credit program for thousands of customers who placed $1.7 million in orders that never arrived.

The luxury activewear label, which transferred from the hands of one entrepreneurial couple to another, is offering credit to about 13,000 customers whose orders were unfulfilled after the company’s collapse in late June.

“This is not something we were legally obliged to do, but for us, it just felt wrong to relaunch without having addressed the elephant in the room and things that really broke the trust with Stax in the first place,” said Stax’s new chief executive and tech start-up executive Anna Cheng.

“[Trust is] something that will take us a long time to earn back, but also something that can shatter overnight.

“We’re doing this because it’s the right thing to do, and we want to show our sincerity in how we plan to continue to grow as a business.”

Stax was founded in 2015 by husband-and-wife duo Don and Matilda Robertson, who pivoted to selling hoodies, merchandise and luxury activewear after their online supplement business Muscle Stax went bankrupt. Stax reached a valuation of $52 million by 2022 and expanded aggressively into physical stores, but was hit by higher rent costs, tougher competition and reduced consumer spending.

Under new management, Stax is a lean team of 10. Head of product Georgia Bachmann has returned to her previous role, as has lead designer Jaclyn Benson, who worked for White Fox and Glassons before joining Stax in August 2024. A handful of customer service staff have also returned.

Two common issues among customer complaints were claims of late deliveries and inconsistent product quality, both of which Cheng wants to address with a focus on transparency if things go wrong, she said. Operational discipline will be another key priority, she added.

When the new online store relaunches, it will feature a return of Stax’s best-selling Nandex line, which ranges from size 4 to 24, and a new logo featuring a wider and bolder typeface that will be sported on the new collection, “Girls Gone Wild”. Popular fabrics have been improved and are returning.

“Our focus has always been diversity and inclusivity – that is what the brand was built on. So I’m definitely keeping that and 10x-ing that with the relaunch. We want to make every single customer feel like they have a place,” Bachmann said. “It’s really bringing the customer on the new journey with us. We’re discovering who we are again.”

Stax’s new management contacted Shopify and previous vendors to retrieve order records and emailed impacted customers in late September to confirm their order values, and received about 8500 responses confirming or requesting updates to their details. Those who have not responded will have until the end of the year.

Customers who have had order values confirmed should see the credit balance in their account that can be used when the site launches next month. The credit does not expire until the end of this financial year, or halfway through next year.

“We’re trying not to rush people to either redeem or use their credits,” Cheng said.

“In scenarios where they feel like they weren’t reached out to or supported, we will make sure that we verify information and we can support them in the best way possible.”

Third-party payment providers such as Afterpay, Paypal, Klarna and Zip will be exempt from the credit program as many of those refunds have been processed through those platforms’ buyer protection programs and dispute resolution programs, said Cheng.

Customer service agents have been trained to prioritise rectifying the issue with customers and to escalate problems quickly if necessary.

“That being said, anyone who may have been declined by their payment provider for a refund for the unfulfilled order, we’re also happy to support their claim,” Cheng said. “I would just encourage them to reach out to us and we will see what we can do.”

In June, Stax’s lender NAB called in FTI Consulting as receivers. Corporate documents later revealed the Perth-founded business owed $6.7 million to staff, the ATO and suppliers.

In the months ahead, the new Stax team will rekindle community engagement, social media and re-shoot product images sporting the new logo.

A return to physical stores, the costly expansion of which became the catalyst of the activewear business’ demise, is not off the table, but new management is not in a rush.

“The good thing about starting from scratch in a way is that we can be extremely deliberate about how we grow and we can also afford to grow at our own pace,” Cheng said.

“The activewear space is big enough for many players, and I don’t feel a pressure to grow at all costs.”

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