On Wednesday afternoon in Pitti Uomo’s Salla della Scherma, Saks Global executives gather to share their vision for the group, which now includes Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman. The choice of location signals one of the key growth opportunities Saks has identified in the current market: menswear.
Saks Global president and chief commercial officer Emily Essner is joined onstage by the group’s chief brand partnerships and buying officer Paolo Riva; Bruce Pask, senior director of men’s fashion for Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus; and newly appointed Joo Woo, SVP of brand partnerships and men’s buying. They share that menswear represents just 35 per cent of Saks Fifth Avenue’s sales across e-commerce and its 70 US stores.
Growing menswear is now the “number one priority” for the group, Essner tells attendees. The group plans to build out the men’s assortments across Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, introducing more entry-level and contemporary fashion. The aim? To capture the younger US menswear consumer for each respective brand, as their spending power rises, the idea of masculinity evolves and they become more explorative with their wardrobes, Riva and Pask explain.
Whether it comes from menswear or not, growth is paramount for Saks Group at this juncture. Since the merger in December, Saks Global has gotten off to a rocky start, raising concerns among analysts. On 30 May, Saks reported an adjusted loss of more than $100 million for the last fiscal year ending 1 February. On the investor call, the company said it had $275 million in overdue payments to suppliers. Then, on 17 February, the company made headlines for extending vendor payment windows from 30 to 90 days, “breaking the traditional multi-brand model to drive growth for Saks Global and our brand partners”, inciting criticism from many brand partners. It also promised to pay back outstanding vendor payments in 12 installments beginning July 2025.
The presentation at Pitti Uomo — one of the most prominent trade fairs in Europe with hundreds of vendors in attendance — is intended to assuage concerns for European brand partners. Essner addresses some of the industry’s concerns off the bat, asking brand partners for “support” as they tackle various “elements” including payment terms. She notes that Saks Global just completed a “clean” audit with Deloitte and points to the $350 million in new financing from SLR Credit Solutions announced almost three weeks ago, which takes total liquidity to $700 million.
“I’ve had many, many conversations since [the payment terms announcement], and we recognise the significant change and the challenge inherent within it,” Essner says. “We also recognise and are really pleased with the amount of cooperation that we have seen from our brand partners, and with how much our partners seem to understand how important creating a more sustainable environment is for us. Six months in, we have really tremendous momentum.”
She also speaks to the impending $121 million bond payment the company is due to pay at the end of June. “I know there’s been a little bit of noise around a potential bond payment, which is due at the end of this month. It goes without saying, of course, we’ll be making that bond payment,” Essner says.
To overcome these financial challenges, Essner points to “capturing synergies” as a key growth driver for the brand, which means cost saving and making operational changes post-merger, like streamlining teams to avoid overlapping roles. “From the catching synergy perspective, we are ahead of where we need to be and anticipate over the next five years, capturing an additional $100 million of synergy,” she explains.
After the presentation, Vogue Business sat down with Emily Essner and Paolo Riva to dig into their menswear strategy. Quotes have been condensed for brevity.
Vogue: Thank you for the presentation. There’s a lot to unpack. But let’s talk about menswear first. Why did you decide to present this strategy at Pitti Uomo? And why is menswear such a priority despite being just 35 per cent of the business today?
Emily: We felt like this was really a good opportunity, frankly, to share our strategy and our thinking with some of our most important partners. For some, we are 60 to 90 per cent of their market share in the US. So it’s really important that we are transparent on our strategy, and we’re really clear with them. This felt like a great moment.
Paolo: Early on [after the merger], we identified our five key categories across the group: women designer, women’s contemporary and apparel, branded shoes and accessories for women, beauty, and menswear. But through data and really through talking with our brand partners, it became clear that something was missing. We were very strong, very specialised on the first fronts, but in menswear we were missing entry-level and alternative brands to attract, educate and loyalise a new menswear customer base.
Emily: Menswear has been ripe for growth and transformation. I think uniquely, we now have the platform and the scale to be able to do so.
Vogue: What does tapping the menswear opportunity look like in practice for the group?
Emily: We believe that a male customer often prefers that in-store experience, because they value expertise and guidance. They really want to know how to wear something. It may sound naive, but the mannequins really matter. The way that they are styled is actually very important and instructional. The expertise of our stylists is central to the strategy. We are lucky to have 3,500 expert stylists across Saks Global, and making sure that they have very detailed, up-to-date product knowledge is certainly a focus.
The men’s customer isn’t always so sure exactly what’s appropriate or how to style something, so having that real one-on-one expertise is critical. It could be, ‘I have a job interview’, or ‘I’m meeting my girlfriend’s parents’. Those moments are often sort of the entry point to a much larger customer relationship.
Vogue: I feel one of the main questions that have been raised since Saks Global was formed is differentiation between the brands. First of all, is that a priority? And if so, how will you achieve it?
Emily: The way we think of it is actually around the idea of distinctiveness. Before the acquisition, each brand had to do a lot of work on its own marketing. At this point, the goal is to be clear about what each brand stands for. Make sure that the teams supporting the different brands know exactly who the customer base is.
Vogue: How are you going to make the Saks Global retail brands stand out in terms of product offering in this new phase? I know you’ve talked about customer data sharing between the Saks Global brands.
Paolo: The identity of Saks, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman is already different in terms of customers. Even though the brand assortment more or less overlaps the vast majority, it’s the assortment of products within the brands that caters to the loyal customer of one retailer or the other — that’s already distinctive. Now, our teams can unlock full access to past performances and customer preferences across our three retailers, and they are learning on what is [distinct about] their brand and what is actually an opportunity they should capture [from another]. We can serve customers better with this data across the brands, without oversaturation risk and without cannibalisation.
Vogue: You mentioned that you will recalibrate the brand assortment and remove 500 to 600 brands. What proportion of those brands are emerging designers?
Paolo: Saks Fifth Avenue, in particular, is much more developed when it comes to emerging designers. We have an emerging brand programme to protect brands at the beginning of their journeys, which are brands that need a longer term commitment. It’s called The New Wave. It’s not a structure that exists at Neiman Marcus. But what the Neiman Marcus side has is commitment. At Neiman, when we onboard small brands, we stick with them for quite some time. So the exit of emerging brands is marginal.
Emily: The idea of inspiration is central to how we think about our strategy, so continuing to cultivate emerging brands is essential.
Vogue: Menswear aside, what are some other areas of strategic focus as you continue to develop Saks Global as a group?
Paolo: Another category that’s accelerating because the customer is finally ready is jewellery. It started with hard jewellery and is now expanding. But it’s a business that requires a personal touch. So we are scaling it up. We need to do things right, because our customers need to talk with experts.
Vogue: I know you discussed the payment terms in the presentation. What other key strategic priorities are you working on right now?
Emily: We are six months into the integration and it’s incredibly energising. Right now, we are really focused on bringing the teams together. About two months ago or so, we introduced our pretty much fully consolidated teams, which allows us to really be able to get specific on our strategies, whether within merchandising or within the balance of the commercial teams that report into new marketing, commerce and analytics.
There are also foundational system and technology changes underway. So at the end of the summer, we’re going to be integrating our merchandising systems, which brings a number of benefits. One of them is actually inventory sharing between those across our businesses. So some of the testing is going to give us this incredible ability to be able to easily test certain assortments, driving higher sell-through. So a tonne is happening, but I hope our energy and enthusiasm comes through.
Correction: The story has been updated to reflect that the menswear strategy outlined at the presentation doesn t apply to Bergdorf Goodman.
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