SSENSE is a lifeline for young designers. What happens if it shuts down?

“When I said I really want an SSENSE sale, this is not what I meant,” joked fashion writer and content creator Ashantéa Austin on Instagram. It was just one of many meme-able quips made following the news that the Canadian luxury platform had gone into administration on 28^th August. But beneath all the internet fodder, there was a wave of genuine worry across the fashion sphere. ​“We all know how much trouble the sector is in, but it’s still a sad piece of news,” said Mimma Viglezio, a creative consultant and former fashion executive. ​“This is yet another serious punch in the gut for small independent brands.”

It’s no secret that the luxury retail market is struggling, with mega retailers buckling one by one under the pressures of our current economic hellscape. Matches went under last year, Luisaviaroma filed for bankruptcy last month, and Farfetch is clinging on after a final-hour purchase by tech company Coupang. But the potential closure of SSENSE feels different – like it would be the end of something that was, in its halcyon days, truly original and great. Unlike its safe-playing market rivals Net-a-Porter or Farfetch, SSENSE spoke to a generation of discerning millennial buyers interested in fashion – and not just what the big French houses were churning out each season. From Aaron Esh’s grungey first collection to futuristic Korean hiking-wear, it became the go-to place to shop niche independent brands redefining style today.

Founded in 2003 by brothers Rami, Bassel and Firas Atallah, the Montreal-based luxury retailer’s meteoric rise hit warp speed in the late 2010s. Alongside a global offering of brands, it championed emerging talent in ways that were previously unseen, snapping up designers fresh out of Central Saint Martins – from KNWLS to Mowalola – and placing their product next to Prada. While other e‑tailers settled for publishing shopping lists, SSENSE launched a bold editorial platform headed by 032c editor Joerg Koch, which mixed interviews with the likes of Chloë Sevigny and Arca with capsule collections spotlighting both emerging and established designers. Its sharp and self-aware marketing strategy was genius, taking a dry, chronically online voice to socials and plastering text-only billboards across the US slapped with things like ​“Where your roommate bought their Rick Owens fog machine.”

So, why is SSENSE in hot water?

Amid a broader luxury turndown, SSENSE’s ambitious expansion to over 700 brands and reliance on perpetual discounting left the platform floundering last year with sales down 28 per cent. Perpetual sales, meanwhile, drove down price points across the market. While tariffs and the August closure of the de minimis loophole (which had allowed duty-free imports to the US under $800) proved to be the final straw. Given that SSENSE was the first – and sometimes the only – stockist for many brands, this raises the question: what happens to all those emerging designers if it collapses?

Stocked on the platform for years while concurrently running his own website, Charles Jeffrey offered some thoughts on his Substack last week. ​“We’d been expecting it,” he wrote. ​“My team at Tomorrow and Naomi [Ingleby] (my head of product) had been planning for this possibility for years. It’s another reminder of why brands must diversify their income. Younger designers especially can’t rely solely on wholesale anymore. SSENSE has been a lifeline for so many, and the fallout from this feels like Matches 2.0. My advice to young creatives: diversify your cash flow early. Don’t rely on one revenue stream. Explore custom pieces, wholesale, collaborations with stylists and high-end clients, teaching, creating artworks or illustrations, consulting, print design – whatever skills you have, turn them into opportunities.”

For many with less reach than Jeffrey, SSENSE’s announcement has still been bittersweet. ​“SSENSE was my first major stockist, and they picked up my pieces while I was still a student at RISD [Rhode Island School of Design] in 2021,” New York-based designer Gabe Gordon tells THE FACE. ​“Being brought on by SSENSE at that stage felt like a huge accomplishment. It validated the work I was doing at such an early point in my career and brought significantly more attention to the brand. SSENSE stopped stocking me in 2023.” It was at that point that Gabe’s buyer at the company encouraged him to begin outsourcing to a knit factory to scale production, which didn’t come to fruition. ​“SSENSE ultimately backed out of a new order given the sell-through of my previous collection. I had spent my entire savings on that production run, having been encouraged and pushed to move into factory manufacturing.”

It was a moment of reflection for the young designer, who claims his experience with the e‑tailer was ​“both a blessing and a curse”, he says. ​“On one hand, it can bring incredible visibility to emerging designers, but at the same time, they often undermine that growth: customers are conditioned to wait for SSENSE sales, which hurts a brand’s performance at other stockists and in direct-to-consumer channels. The experience has reinforced my commitment to working only with stockists and partners who genuinely support the sustainable growth of small, independent brands.”

For all its flaws, the fall of SSENSE would leave a gaping hole in the retail landscape. ​“What sets SSENSE apart is that it mixes shopping with culture,” creative consultant and fashion editor Jeanie Annan-Lewin says. ​“I feel sad when I think of all the wonderful capsule lines and initiatives that are in place, and I keep thinking, where will all the independent designers go now this won’t be available?” In order to weather the storm, Jeanie says designers must ground down into their personal worlds. ​“I think the focus should be on direct customer relationships and really focusing on community, investing in storytelling and strong content so people feel part of the journey. You want to build a loyal and dedicated fanbase.”

Whether SSENSE pulls through or not, it’s clear that the young designers who once relied on it must now find new ways to survive outside of major retail platforms. Many are already fortifying themselves with their own ecosystems – be it through direct sales, partnerships with smaller platforms or clever modes of self-marketing. If history has taught us anything, it’s that crisis breeds creativity. Perhaps, as the giants crumble, there will be space in the rubble to build a future for retail that makes more SSENSE.