Buzzy clothing brand Something Navy owed an Indian supplier $364,000 — and didn't pay the full balance until we started reporting on it
- Influencer Arielle Charnas' clothing line, Something Navy, has been struggling for months.
- The brand repeatedly missed payment deadlines with some of its suppliers.
At first glance, Something Navy — the clothing line launched by influencer Arielle Charnas — appeared to be thriving.
When the brand launched during the height of the pandemic in July 2020, it claimed to have sold $1 million worth of merchandise within 30 minutes. Charnas, with her base of more than a million Instagram followers, seemed poised to take control of a large swath of the retail market.
Behind the scenes though, the brand had been struggling for months, Insider reporter Katie Warren recently reported.
Those struggles included missed payment deadlines to suppliers across the globe.
In one instance, Something Navy owed $364,000 to a supplier in India. The brand initially stopped paying the supplier in June 2022.
It was only after Insider began contacting people for the story in September that Something Navy started paying off the majority of the bill.
According to Warren's correspondence with the supplier, Something Navy paid the remaining $20,000 it owed on Tuesday, just days before Insider's story was published.
A Kolkata-based supplier named Ayush Murarka faced a similar issue. In September, he texted Insider saying that the brand was months late on a payment. Murarka was struggling to pay his own workers, he told Insider.
Murarka finally received the payment in full around the same time the other supplier received his payment, Insider reported.
In addition, Brand Design Switzerland, a small Swiss based supplier that produced 3,000 euros worth of merchandise for Something Navy, still has not been paid as of November.
Former Something Navy told Insider that they've been caught in a flood of emails since the spring from suppliers asking about late payments.
Some suppliers have threatened to terminate contracts with Something Navy. Others have noted that their own employees' wages depend on receiving payments. One even told Something Navy's CEO, Matt Scanlan, that their business would be in jeopardy if they didn't receive their money.
A Something Navy representative claimed that all outstanding payments referenced in Insider's story were made before Insider provided the company with fact-checks last week.
But when Insider told the representative that the India-based supplier was, in fact, paid only after Insider reached out, the representative didn't respond, nor did they provide documentation for the other payments.
Insider wasn't able to confirm proof of payment with Brand Design Switzerland.