{"id":635715,"date":"2026-10-19T23:14:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T23:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/635715\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T23:14:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T23:14:15","slug":"stax-activewear-brand-relaunches-with-credit-program-for-lost-orders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/635715\/","title":{"rendered":"Stax activewear brand relaunches with credit program for lost orders"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Jessica<\/p>\n

October 20, 2026 \u2014 5:00am<\/p>\n

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Rescued activewear brand Stax will relaunch its new online store next month with a fresh collection and a credit program for thousands of customers who placed $1.7 million in orders that never arrived<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s collapse in late June<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"StaxStax is relaunching with a return of its Nandex best-sellers, and a new collection.Stax\/Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cThis 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,\u201d said Stax\u2019s new chief executive and tech start-up executive Anna Cheng.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Trust is] something that will take us a long time to earn back, but also something that can shatter overnight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing this because it\u2019s the right thing to do, and we want to show our sincerity in how we plan to continue to grow as a business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stax was founded in 2015<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Justin<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

When the new online store relaunches on November 6, it will feature a return of Stax\u2019s 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, \u201cGirls Gone Wild\u201d. Popular fabrics have been improved and are returning.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus has always been diversity and inclusivity \u2013 that is what the brand was built on. So I\u2019m definitely keeping that and 10x-ing that with the relaunch. We want to make every single customer feel like they have a place,\u201d Bachmann said. \u201cIt\u2019s really bringing the customer on the new journey with us. We\u2019re discovering who we are again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Stax\u2019sStax\u2019s new management team is led by tech start-up executive Anna Cheng and head of product Georgia Bachmann.Stax\/supplied<\/p>\n

Stax\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying not to rush people to either redeem or use their credits,\u201d Cheng said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Don<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIn scenarios where they feel like they weren\u2019t reached out to or supported, we will make sure that we verify information and we can support them in the best way possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019 buyer protection programs and dispute resolution programs, said Cheng.<\/p>\n

Customer service agents have been trained to prioritise rectifying the issue with customers and to escalate problems quickly if necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat being said, anyone who may have been declined by their payment provider for a refund for the unfulfilled order, we\u2019re also happy to support their claim,\u201d Cheng said. \u201cI would just encourage them to reach out to us and we will see what we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

In June, Stax\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

In the months ahead, the new Stax team will rekindle community engagement, social media and re-shoot product images sporting the new logo.<\/p>\n

A return to physical stores, the costly expansion of which became the catalyst of the activewear business\u2019 demise, is not off the table, but new management is not in a rush.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d Cheng said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe activewear space is big enough for many players, and I don\u2019t feel a pressure to grow at all costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

CORRECTION<\/p>\n

An earlier version of this story said the Stax site would relaunch this week. The site will relaunch on November 6.<\/p>\n

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Close\"JessicaJessica Yun<\/a> is a business reporter covering retail and food for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"October 20, 2026 \u2014 5:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[138,336,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-635715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entrepreneurship","tag-business","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}