How Wandler Keeps Cash Flowing Across Fashion Seasons

Wandler is an Amsterdam leather goods brand founded in 2017 by Elza Wandler and Joost Doeswijk. Built around the round Hortensia bag, made by a manufacturer in Veneto, Italy, the brand now sells through its own boutiques, its own online store, and stockists including Bijenkorf, Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, and Saks. Wandler ships worldwide, with the Benelux and the US as its two biggest markets.

A bag shape three retailers picked up in the same week

Before Wandler, Joost ran his own label, Atelier de L'Armee, focused on menswear and bags. Through that project he met Bart Ramakers of Parrot Agency, who worked with a number of brands and saw potential in reaching the women's market too. Elza, who also comes from a fashion background, started working on a new bag shape with them. That design became the Hortensia. Guus Vonk, Wandler's CFO, describes it:

It was a distinctive shape for that moment, and very colourful.

Joost and Elza took the bag to London and pitched it to three major retailers, hoping one would take it on. All three did, among them Net-a-Porter and Browns.

The company grew massively in the first year.

Wandler found a manufacturer in Italy to produce the bags and kept growing. The Hortensia became the core of the collection, and the brand added shoes and clothing over the following years.

Then COVID-19 hit demand for luxury goods hard, and Wandler's retail business took the impact with it. The brand adjusted. It stopped the clothing and shoe lines and focused on a healthier mix of majors and independents, and it has spent the past year making its eCommerce business a priority, with online revenue growing around 60% year on year.

Two big orders a year, and a six-month gap before the cash comes back

Guus joined Wandler as CFO in May, but he has known the business since it started. He was at Rabobank in 2017 when Elza and Joost first needed financing, and he has stayed close to the company ever since. That banking background gives him a clear view of why fashion brands are a hard sell to traditional lenders.

In the banking world, it was among the first things you wouldn't finance, because it fluctuates. From a seller's perspective, you see all the value in your inventory. But from a banker's perspective there's no real value in the inventory, because the risk is very high that it will be written down.

Fashion brands buy by season, and Wandler places two large orders a year plus two smaller ones. Each one starts with a deposit, followed by a further payment around three months later when the goods are ready to be shipped. From that deposit to the finished stock reaching the stores could take up to five months. Then the invoices go out to retailers like Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, and Saks, whose payment terms run well past fifteen days.

It can take up to two to three months.

Altogether, close to six months can pass between paying the deposit and collecting the first retailer payment.

That can be stressful. Our bank accounts fluctuate a lot.

A good bridge between seasons

Joost first got in touch with Wayflyer while Wandler was working through one of those cash flow gaps. Guus's instinct at the time was to look for a senior facility with a bank on strong terms. Wayflyer turned out to solve a narrower, more immediate problem: covering the months between placing an order and getting paid for it.

What I liked was that it was a bridge between our seasons.

Speed mattered more than rate for a short-term facility, and Wayflyer can act fast because its underwriting looks at live metrics a bank wouldn't. Wandler runs a senior facility alongside Wayflyer funding, drawing on Wayflyer once or twice a year around its ordering cycle.

Guus points to the account team as much as the product itself.

The personal contact with our account manager was great. The set-up was easy. I had a few questions during the process, and I think he came back within a week. It made me feel really heard.

The flexibility stood out too, particularly in the gap between paying a deposit and knowing exactly when funds would land.

It was nice to have a backup.

Wandler is targeting 50-60% growth next year, with the US already 25-30% of the business.

We want to win over the next regions.

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