After combating off a compelled sale, Ssense continues to be on the public sale block.
Rami Atallah, the embattled e-tailer’s co-founder and chief government, instructed employees throughout an all-hands assembly on Sep. 17 {that a} sale course of isn’t off the desk for the Montreal-based firm, in line with an attendee. But Atallah stated he and his brothers Firas and Bassel, with whom he co-founded the corporate in 2003, will attempt to head a sale off by putting their very own bid for the corporate, the individual stated.
“Our family intends to participate as one of the bidders, and our bid will be evaluated under the same rules and oversight as all other bids,” Atallah stated throughout the assembly, in line with a video seen by The Business of Fashion. “Ultimately the court will determine which proposal is best for the company’s future.”
The inner announcement got here lower than every week after Ssense was granted approval by the Superior Court of Quebec to file for chapter safety, itself a transfer supposed to stop a sale by collectors, who had made their very own submitting to recoup money owed owed. The ruling granted Ssense $40 million in interim financing, and permits the corporate to pursue outdoors funding to settle its money owed, together with a sale.
Atallah instructed staffers in an inner memo on Aug. 28, the day after the collectors’ submitting, {that a} “sale process” was “not the right path for Ssense.”
Ssense’s monetary state stays precarious. The firm’s chapter submitting cited as a major trigger for its troubles the 30 % tariffs the Trump administration imposed on Canadian imports this 12 months. The submitting additionally flagged the closure of the de minimis tax loophole — which allowed packages below the worth of $800 to enter the US obligation free.
But Ssense’s issues run deeper. The retailer, which has cultivated a popularity because the go-to e-tailer for younger buyers interested by rising designers, is dealing with the identical issues which have plagued its opponents, together with sinking demand and bigger manufacturers pulling their most fascinating merchandise from wholesale.
Ssense generated roughly $1.3 billion in gross sales in 2024, and has introduced in slightly over $1 billion in 2025, in line with a report from Ernst & Young. Ssense additionally had almost $500 million in liabilities as of July 2025, the report stated.
Atallah and his brothers nonetheless personal a majority of the corporate, in line with the report. They bought a minority stake to Sequoia Capital in 2021 at a $4.5 billion valuation.
During the all-hands assembly, Atallah additionally introduced one other spherical of layoffs, in line with the attendee. Ssense beforehand laid off greater than 100 workers in May.
Following the assembly, the corporate put staffers on a short lived layoff, which means these workers are nonetheless technically employed by Ssense, a transfer that permits the corporate to forgo paying severance within the close to time period, in line with an individual with direct data of the matter. Affected workers have been despatched purposes for employment insurance coverage, Canada’s equal of unemployment. They have been additionally instructed that they may very well be rehired within the coming months if the enterprise permits however will obtain severance in the event that they aren’t introduced again, the individual stated.