Manolo Blahnik survived 55 years — Saks' bankruptcy cost it its first loss

When Manolo Blahnik published its 2025 accounts in August 2026, the shoemaker founded in 1970 posted a pre-tax loss of €1.6 million — after decades of profit. Revenue slipped to €83.5 million, down 3% as reported and 1% at constant currency. EBITDA fell 36% to €5.4 million, part of it the cost of opening stores. The oddity in the accounts: gross margin had actually improved by a point. The product was selling; the money was stuck somewhere else.

The somewhere else was Saks Global, the parent of Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, which spent most of 2025 in bankruptcy. Manolo Blahnik carried the exposure of a major wholesale partner going down: an impairment on the receivables Saks could not pay, and merchandise that could not be shipped while the partner's payments stopped. A weak dollar compounded the hit. Chief executive Kristina Blahnik called it 'one of the most challenging backdrops we have faced in recent years'.

The response was a channel decision. Direct-to-consumer sales grew 14% in the year while wholesale fell, and the house kept building its own estate: 24 stores by year-end, 14 of them directly operated flagships, with Miami, Milan and Costa Mesa opened in 2025 and Beijing in January 2026, alongside an e-commerce launch in China. The family business also tightened its grip, buying the remaining shares of its Hong Kong entity.

The shape of the case: the brand was not broken by its customers but by a counterparty. The loss is the invoice for lending your balance sheet to a department store — and the fix is owning the door instead.