The list of brands SSENSE owes money to
And why we are publishing it.
By Olya Kuryshchuk
When SSENSE filed for creditor protection, the fashion industry responded with the usual mix of shocked Instagram stories and private group chat panic. But beneath the surface drama lies something far more important: a comprehensive map of just how deeply independent fashion has become dependent on a retail infrastructure that was never built to sustain it.
Below, we’re publishing the full list of SSENSE creditors. Not as gossip. Not to shame. But because the scale of this collapse – nearly 10x the size of Matchesfashion’s liquidation – reveals a truth the industry has been avoiding: the current system has evolved in ways that often extract value from independent brands rather than support them.
This isn’t a story about one retailer’s mismanagement. It’s about what happens when fashion consolidates under a handful of conglomerates and platforms, when private equity investment has largely replaced the slower, more patient capital that once allowed brands to grow sustainably, and when independent designers are forced to play a game rigged against them from the start.
Each name on this list represents not just a transaction, but a business decision made in good faith. A designer who shipped their collection. A factory that delivered goods. A brand that trusted the system would work.
Some of these are names you know – emerging designers who’ve been featured in Vogue, who’ve won LVMH Prize nominations, who dress celebrities and influence the visual language of contemporary fashion. The sheer number of creditors – nearly a thousand – tells us this isn’t about individual poor judgment.
How we got here
The last five years have fundamentally reordered fashion’s power structure, and independent brands have been caught in the crossfire.
On one side, luxury conglomerates have consolidated their grip. LVMH, Kering, and Richemont don’t just own brands – they own the supply chain, the retail, the media, and increasingly, the cultural conversation. They can afford to lose money on a brand for a decade while they “build” it. They have capital to weather any storm. An independent brand has neither luxury.