Justin Truong and Sandy Li-Truong’s investor group acquired Stax’s assets out of receivership – but not the $23.7 million in liabilities left behind by founders Don Robertson and Matilda Murray. Customers whose orders never arrived therefore have no legal right to a refund from the new owners. How the investor group bridges that gap between that legal position and customers’ expectations could define the relaunch. 

Settling the unfinished business

Stax collapsed owing more than $1.7 million to 12,927 customers who paid for products that never shipped, alongside over $450,000 owed to staff in entitlements and superannuation. “Legally they owe those 12,927 orders nothing. Commercially they owe them everything, because what they actually bought is a name, and right now that name means ‘took my money and didn’t send the product,’” branding consultant Mal Chia told Inside Retail. He argued the response can’t be delayed – whatever form the gesture takes, credit, product, or a partial make-good, it needs to happen ahead of the relaunch, not afterwards.

Truong has pointed to work already underway, noting the new ownership “recognise[s] the impact on affected customers and are actively exploring meaningful ways to support them as the brand relaunches”. Sharon Williams OAM, founder and CEO of Taurus Marketing, framed the upcoming relaunch to Inside Retail as a communications test as much as a financial one, insisting any dedicated customer helpline “must genuinely deliver on its promise,” and that “social media and the website need to become active channels for communicating with customers rather than simply promotional platforms”.

But tone is expected to carry as much weight as substance going forward. “Don and Matilda were transparent on the way down, but it was also tone deaf. No one empathises with the founder whose lavish lifestyle was impacted, especially while customers were out of pocket,” Chia said. Matilda has also reflected publicly on the brand’s collapse through a personal Substack, publishing posts including ‘Who am I without the thing that introduced me?’, ‘Followers don’t bring you dinner’ and ‘6 weeks on reflection’. Williams offered a similar caution for the incoming team that “they should also avoid criticising the previous owners. The focus should be on the future and what is going to be different”.

Rebuilding without repeating old mistakes

Discounting into the relaunch is the most consistent warning raised. “Discounting into a relaunch reeks of desperation and teaches the customer to wait for the next one,” Chia said, arguing instead that “the first drop needs to be the best product the brand has made, in stock, at full price”. He also flagged a structural mismatch given the new owners’ background running an online sneaker and apparel store: “Activewear is a repeat-purchase category where the second and third orders matter more than the first. That model doesn’t translate. Run Stax like a hype brand, and you get a strong relaunch week and the same problem in two years””.

However, Williams took a softer approach, suggesting “a loyalty program could help rebuild the customer relationship,” alongside “faster returns and refunds” and modest promotions such as “buy two and receive 20 per cent off” to encourage customers back without signalling desperation. On timing, she argued urgency trumps caution. “The biggest mistake would be moving too slowly. There is a small window of attention on the business now, and the new owners need to act quickly and positively rather than allowing that momentum to disappear”. Chia, however, took a different view, arguing readiness should govern the clock, not marketing tempo. “Priority two is not opening the doors until they can ship,” he stated. Separately, Williams and Chia each raised the same concern – pre-sales are radioactive. 

The balance sheet behind the brand

Behind the storefront, partner Bugden Allen, Julia Moroz, argued Stax’s collapse is a case study in deceptive consumer-facing metrics. “Social media following, engagement, collaborations, celebrity exposure, queues for product drops, revenue growth and new store openings can all create a strong impression of success. But none of those metrics necessarily tell you whether a business is profitable or financially sustainable,” she told Inside Retail. For the new owners, she framed financial discipline as forward-looking rather than reactive, arguing that genuine financial hygiene means anticipating future obligations rather than simply checking whether today’s bills can be paid.

Despite the scale of the collapse, Moroz sees grounds for optimism in the buyers’ local market grounding. “Having people come on board who understand Australian consumers and have experience building a local e-commerce business is a real positive. There is also the benefit of new backing behind a brand that already has considerable recognition and customer goodwill,” said Moroz. Asked separately about what distinguishes a genuine turnaround, Chia and Williams offered strikingly similar answers. “A credible turnaround should materially impact how a customer behaves: better product, purchased more frequently at full margin,” Chia said, while Williams argued “a genuine turnaround is about more than a new logo, tagline or campaign. It is about showing through actions that the business has changed”. Ultimately, the consensus is that customers are likely to judge the new ownership based on their actual experience with the brand, rather than on its messaging alone.