Digital Brands Group, Inc.: Form 10-Q for the period ended Jun 30, 2024

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the historical financial statements of the relevant entities and the pro forma financial statements and the notes thereto included elsewhere in this Form 10-Q. This discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those set forth under “Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

Unless otherwise indicated by the context, references to “DBG” refer to Digital Brands Group, Inc. solely, and references to the “Company,” “our,” “we,” “us” and similar terms refer to Digital Brands Group, Inc., together with its wholly-owned subsidiaries Bailey 44, LLC (“Bailey”), MOSBEST, LLC (“Stateside”) and Sunnyside (“Sundry”).

Some of the statements contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business, constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events. The following information and any forward-looking statements should be considered in light of factors discussed elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, particularly including those risks identified in Part II-Item 1A “Risk Factors” and our other filings with the SEC.

Our actual results and timing of certain events may differ materially from the results discussed, projected, anticipated, or indicated in any forward-looking statements. We caution you that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that our actual results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and the development of the industry in which we operate may differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Statements made herein are as of the date of the filing of this Form 10-Q with the SEC and should not be relied upon as of any subsequent date. Even if our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and the development of the industry in which we operate are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, they may not be predictive of results or developments in future periods. We disclaim any obligation, except as specifically required by law and the rules of the SEC, to publicly update or revise any such statements to reflect any change in our expectations or in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements may be based or that may affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements

Business Overview

Recent Developments

Retail Store

We entered into a retail store sublease for approximately 3.5 years at the Simon Premium Outlet in Allen, TX, a suburb of Dallas. We opened the store in md April 2024. We expect the store to generate meaningful cash flow as we already have excess product that we can sell, which means we will not have to use cash to create inventory for sale. We expect the store to generate over $1.5 million in annual revenue and over $500,000 in free cash flow on an annual basis.

Nasdaq Listing

On May 23, 2023, The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) notified the Company that it had determined to delist the Company’s shares as the Company no longer satisfied the $35,000,000 market value of listed securities requirement, or the alternative $2,500,000 stockholders’ equity requirement, as set forth in Listing Rule 5550(b) (the “Equity Rule”), for continued listing on The Nasdaq Capital Market. On May 30, 2023, the Company requested a hearing before a Nasdaq Hearings Panel (the “Panel”). On June 28, 2023, Nasdaq issued an additional delist determination based upon the Company’s non-compliance with the minimum bid price requirement. The hearing was held on July 13, 2023, and by decision dated July 27, 2023, the Panel granted the Company’s request for an extension to evidence compliance with all applicable continued listing criteria, through September 15, 2023.

On September 20, 2023, the Company was formally notified by Nasdaq that it had evidenced full compliance with all requirements for continued listing on The Nasdaq Capital Market, including the bid price requirement and the Equity Rule.

The Company remained subject to a “Panel Monitor” as that term is defined under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5815(d)(4)(A), through September 20, 2024. Under the terms of the Panel Monitor, in the event the Company fails to satisfy any requirement for continued listing on The Nasdaq Capital Market during the monitoring period, the Company will be required to request a hearing before the Panel in order to maintain its listing rather than taking the interim step of submitting a compliance plan for the Listing Qualifications Staff’s review or receiving any otherwise applicable grace period.

In the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the SEC on April 15, 2024, the Company reported stockholders’ equity of $1,602,592 and, therefore, no longer complied with the Equity Rule. On April 22, 2024, Nasdaq notified the Company that, given the Panel Monitor, unless the Company timely requests a hearing before a Panel, the Company’s securities would be subject to delisting from Nasdaq. The Company timely requested a hearing before the Panel. The hearing request automatically stayed any suspension or delisting action pending the hearing and the expiration of any additional extension period granted by the Panel following the hearing. In that regard, pursuant to the Listing Rules, the Panel has the authority to grant an additional extension period not to exceed October 21, 2024.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, there can be no assurance that the Panel will grant the Company a further extension or that the Company will ultimately regain compliance with all applicable requirements for continued listing.

Our Company

Digital Brands Group is a curated collection of lifestyle brands, including Bailey 44, DSTLD, Stateside, Sundry and ACE Studios, that offers a variety of apparel products through direct-to-consumer and wholesale distribution. Our complementary brand portfolio provides us with the unique opportunity to cross merchandise our brands. We aim for our customers to wear our brands head to toe and to capture what we call “closet share” by gaining insight into their preferences to create targeted and personalized content specific to their cohort. Operating our brands under one portfolio provides us with the ability to better utilize our technological, human capital and operational capabilities across all brands. As a result, we have been able to realize operational efficiencies and continue to identify additional cost saving opportunities to scale our brands and overall portfolio.

Our portfolio consists of four significant brands that leverage our three channels: our websites, wholesale and our own stores.

• Bailey 44 combines beautiful, luxe fabrics and on-trend designs to create sophisticated ready-to-wear capsules for women on-the-go. Designing for real life, this brand focuses on feeling and comfort rather than how it looks on a runway. Bailey 44 is primarily a wholesale brand, which we are transitioning to a digital, direct-to-consumer brand.
• DSTLD offers stylish high-quality garments without the luxury retail markup valuing customer experience over labels. DSTLD is primarily a digital direct-to-consumer brand, to which we recently added select wholesale retailers to generate brand awareness.
• Stateside is an elevated, America first brand with all knitting, dyeing, cutting and sewing sourced and manufactured locally in Los Angeles. The collection is influenced by the evolution of the classic T-shirt offering a simple yet elegant look. Stateside is primarily a wholesale brand that we will be transitioning to a digital, direct-to-consumer brand.
• Sundry offers distinct collections of women’s clothing, including dresses, shirts, sweaters, skirts, shorts, athleisure bottoms and other accessory products. Sundry’s products are coastal casual and consist of soft, relaxed and colorful designs that feature a distinct French chic, resembling the spirits of the French Mediterranean and the energy of Venice Beach in Southern California. Sundry is primarily a wholesale brand that we will be transitioning to a digital, direct-to-consumer brand.

We believe that successful apparel brands sell in all revenue channels. However, each channel offers different margin structures and requires different customer acquisition and retention strategies. We were founded as a digital-first retailer that has strategically expanded into select wholesale and direct retail channels. We strive to strategically create omnichannel strategies for each of our brands that blend physical and online channels to engage consumers in the channel of their choosing. Our products are sold direct-to-consumers principally through our websites and our own showrooms, but also through our wholesale channel, primarily in specialty stores and select department stores. With the continued expansion of our wholesale distribution, we believe developing an omnichannel solution further strengthens our ability to efficiently acquire and retain customers while also driving high customer lifetime value.

We believe that by leveraging a physical footprint to acquire customers and increase brand awareness, we can use digital marketing to focus on retention and a very tight, disciplined high value new customer acquisition strategy, especially targeting potential customers lower in the sales funnel. Building a direct relationship with the customer as the customer transacts directly with us allows us to better understand our customer’s preferences and shopping habits. Our substantial experience as a company originally founded as a digitally native-first retailer gives us the ability to strategically review and analyze the customer’s data, including contact information, browsing and shopping cart data, purchase history and style preferences. This in turn has the effect of lowering our inventory risk and cash needs since we can order and replenish product based on the data from our online sales history, replenish specific inventory by size, color and SKU based on real times sales data, and control our mark-down and promotional strategies versus being told what mark downs and promotions we have to offer by the department stores and boutique retailers.

We define “closet share” as the percentage (“share”) of a customer’s clothing units that (“of closet”) she or he owns in her or his closet and the amount of those units that go to the brands that are selling these units. For example, if a customer buys 20 units of clothing a year and the brands that we own represent 10 of those units purchased, then our closet share is 50% of that customer’s closet, or 10 of our branded units divided by 20 units they purchased in entirety. Closet share is a similar concept to the widely used term wallet share, it is just specific to the customer’s closet. The higher our closet share, the higher our revenue as higher closet share suggests the customer is purchasing more of our brands than our competitors.

We have strategically expanded into an omnichannel brand offering these styles and content not only on-line but at selected wholesale and retail storefronts. We believe this approach allows us opportunities to successfully drive Lifetime Value (“LTV”) while increasing new customer growth. We define Lifetime Value or LTV as an estimate of the average revenue that a customer will generate throughout their lifespan as our customer. This value/revenue of a customer helps us determine many economic decisions, such as marketing budgets per marketing channel, retention versus acquisition decisions, unit level economics, profitability and revenue forecasting.

We acquired Bailey in February 2020, Stateside in August 2021 and Sundry in December 2022. We agreed on the consideration that we paid in each acquisition in the course of arm’s length negotiations with the holders of the membership interests in each of Bailey, H&J, Stateside and Sundry. In determining and negotiating this consideration, we relied on the experience and judgment of our management and our evaluation of the potential synergies that could be achieved in combining the operations of Bailey, Stateside and Sundry. We did not obtain independent valuations, appraisals or fairness opinions to support the consideration that we paid/agreed to pay.

Material Trends, Events and Uncertainties

Supply Chain Disruptions

We are subject to global supply chain disruptions, which may include longer lead times for raw fabrics, inbound shipping and longer production times. Supply chain issues have specifically impacted the following for our brands:

• Increased costs in raw materials from fabric prices, which have increased 10% to 100% depending on the fabric, the time of year, and the origin of the fabric, as well as where the fabric is being shipped;
• Increased cost per kilo to ship via sea or air, which has increased from 25% to 300% depending on the time of year and from the country we are shipping from;
• Increased transit time via sea or air, which have increased by two weeks to two months; and
• Increased labor costs for producing the finished goods, which have increased 5% to 25% depending on the country and the labor skill required to produce the goods. We have been able to pass along some of these increased costs and also offset some of these increased costs with higher gross margin online revenue

Seasonality

Our quarterly operating results vary due to the seasonality of our individual brands and are historically stronger in the second half of the calendar year.

Substantial Indebtedness

As of June 30, 2024, we had an aggregate principal amount of debt outstanding of approximately $8.7 million. We believe this is an amount of indebtedness which may be considered significant for a company of our size and current revenue base. Our substantial debt could have important consequences to us. For example, it could:

• make it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations to the holders of our outstanding debt, resulting in possible defaults on and acceleration of such indebtedness;
• require us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flows from operations to make payments on our debt, which would reduce the availability of our cash flows from operations to fund working capital, capital expenditures or other general corporate purposes;
• increase our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions, including interest rate fluctuations;
• place us at a competitive disadvantage to our competitors with proportionately less debt for their size;
• limit our ability to refinance our existing indebtedness or borrow additional funds in the future;
• limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changing conditions in our business; and
• limit our ability to react to competitive pressures or make it difficult for us to carry out capital spending that is necessary or important to our growth strategy.

Any of the foregoing impacts of our substantial indebtedness could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We currently have $3.5 million in notes outstanding pursuant to our Bailey acquisition. We are currently unable to repay or refinance borrowings so any such action by these lenders could force us into bankruptcy or liquidation.

In addition, our ability to make scheduled payments on our indebtedness or to refinance our obligations under our debt agreements, will depend on our financial and operating performance, which, in turn, will be subject to prevailing economic and competitive conditions and to the financial and business risk factors we face as described in this section, many of which may be beyond our control. We may not be able to maintain a level of cash flows from operating activities sufficient to permit us to pay the principal, premium, if any, and interest on our indebtedness.

If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations, we may be forced to reduce or delay capital expenditures or planned growth objectives, seek to obtain additional equity capital or restructure our indebtedness. In the future, our cash flows and capital resources may not be sufficient for payments of interest on and principal of our debt, and such alternative measures may not be successful and may not permit us to meet scheduled debt service obligations. In addition, the recent worldwide credit crisis could make it more difficult for us to refinance our indebtedness on favorable terms, or at all.

In the absence of such operating results and resources, we may be required to dispose of material assets to meet our debt service obligations. We may not be able to consummate those sales, or, if we do, we will not control the timing of the sales or whether the proceeds that we realize will be adequate to meet debt service obligations when due.

Performance Factors

We believe that our future performance will depend on many factors, including the following:

Ability to Increase Our Customer Base in both Online and Traditional Wholesale Distribution Channels

We are currently growing our customer base through both paid and organic online channels, as well as by expanding our presence in a variety of physical retail distribution channels. Online customer acquisitions typically occur at our direct websites for each brand. Our online customer acquisition strategies include paid and unpaid social media, search, display and traditional media. Our products for Bailey, DSTLD and Stateside are also sold through a growing number of physical retail channels, including specialty stores, department stores and online multi-brand platforms.

Ability to Acquire Customers at a Reasonable Cost

We believe an ability to consistently acquire customers at a reasonable cost relative to customer retention rates, contribution margins and projected life-time value will be a key factor affecting future performance. To accomplish this goal, we intend to balance advertising spend between online and offline channels, as well as cross marketing and cross merchandising our portfolio brands and their respective products. We believe the ability to cross merchandise products and cross market brands, will decrease our customer acquisition costs while increasing the customer’s lifetime value and contribution margin. We will also balance marketing spend with advertising focused on creating emotional brand recognition, which we believe will represent a lower percentage of our spend.

Ability to Drive Repeat Purchases and Customer Retention

We accrue substantial economic value and margin expansion from customer cohort retention and repeat purchases of our products on an annual basis. Our revenue growth rate and operating margin expansion will be affected by our customer cohort retention rates and the cohorts annual spend for both existing and newly acquired customers.

Ability to Expand Our Product Lines

Our goal is to expand our product lines over time to increase our growth opportunity. Our customer’s annual spend and brand relevance will be driven by the cadence and success of new product launches.

Ability to Expand Gross Margins

Our overall profitability will be impacted by our ability to expand gross margins through effective sourcing and leveraging buying power of finished goods and shipping costs, as well as pricing power over time.

Ability to Expand Operating Margins

Our ability to expand operating margins will be impacted by our ability to leverage (1) fixed general and administrative costs, (2) variable sales and marketing costs, (3) elimination of redundant costs as we acquire and integrate brands, (4) cross marketing and cross merchandising brands in our portfolio, and (4) drive customer retention and customer lifetime value. Our ability to expand operating margins will result from increasing revenue growth above our operating expense growth, as well as increasing gross margins. For example, we anticipate that our operating expenses will increase substantially in the foreseeable future as we undertake the acquisition and integration of different brands, incur expenses associated with maintaining compliance as a public company, and increased marketing and sales efforts to increase our customer base. While we anticipate that the operating expenses in absolute dollars will increase, we do not anticipate that the operating expenses as a percentage of revenue will increase. We anticipate that the operating expenses as a percentage of revenue will decrease as we eliminate duplicative costs across brands including a reduction in similar labor roles, contracts for technologies and operating systems and creating lower costs from higher purchasing power from shipping expenses to purchase orders of products. This reduction of expenses and lower cost per unit due to purchasing power should create meaningful savings in both dollars and as a percentage of revenue.

As an example, we were able to eliminate several million in expenses within six months of acquiring Bailey. Examples of these savings include eliminating several Bailey teams, which our teams took over.

We merged over half of the technology contracts and operating systems contracts from two brands into one brand contract at significant savings. We also eliminated our office space and rent and moved everyone into the Bailey office space. Finally, we eliminated DSTLD’s third-party logistics company and started using Bailey’s internal logistics. This resulted in an increase in our operating expenses in absolute dollars as there were now two brands versus one brand. However, the operating expenses as a percentage of pre-COVID revenue declined meaningfully and as we increase revenue for each brand, we expect to experience higher margins.

Ability to Create Free Cash Flow

Our goal is to achieve near term free cash flow through cash flow positive acquisitions, elimination of redundant expenses in acquired companies, increasing customer annual spend and lowering customer acquisition costs through cross merchandising across our brand portfolio.

Components of Our Results of Operations

Bailey

Net Revenue

Bailey sells its products directly to customers. Bailey also sells its products indirectly through wholesale channels that include third-party online channels and physical channels such as specialty retailers and department stores.

Cost of Net Revenue

Bailey’s cost of net revenue includes the direct cost of purchased and manufactured merchandise; inventory shrinkage; inventory adjustments due to obsolescence including excess and slow-moving inventory and lower of cost and net realizable reserves; duties; and inbound freight. Cost of net revenue also includes direct labor to production activities such as pattern makers, cutters and sewers. Cost of net revenue includes an allocation of overheard costs such as rent, utilities and commercial insurance pertaining to direct inventory activities.

Operating Expenses

Bailey’s operating expenses include all operating costs not included in cost of net revenues and sales and marketing. These costs consist of general and administrative, fulfillment and shipping expense to the customer.

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of all payroll and payroll-related expenses, professional fees, insurance, software costs, occupancy expenses related to Bailey’s operations at its headquarters, including utilities, depreciation and amortization, and other costs related to the administration of its business.

Bailey’s fulfillment and shipping expenses include the cost to operate its warehouse including occupancy and labor costs to pick and pack customer orders and any return orders; packaging; and shipping costs to the customer from the warehouse and any returns from the customer to the warehouse.

Sales & Marketing

Bailey’s sales and marketing expense primarily includes digital advertising; photo shoots for wholesale and direct-to-consumer communications, including email, social media and digital advertisements; and commission expenses associated with sales representatives.

Interest Expense

Bailey’s interest expense consists primarily of interest related to its outstanding debt to our senior lender.

DBG

Net Revenue

We sell our products to our customers directly through our website. In those cases, sales, net represents total sales less returns, promotions and discounts.

Cost of Net Revenue

Cost of net revenue include direct cost of purchased merchandise; inventory shrinkage; inventory adjustments due to obsolescence, including excess and slow-moving inventory and lower of cost and net realizable reserves.

Operating Expenses

Our operating expenses include all operating costs not included in cost of net revenues. These costs consist of general and administrative, sales and marketing, and fulfillment and shipping expense to the customer.

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of all payroll and payroll-related expenses, professional fees, insurance, software costs, and expenses related to our operations at our headquarters, including utilities, depreciation and amortization, and other costs related to the administration of our business.

We expect to continue to incur additional expenses as a result of operating as a public company, including costs to comply with the rules and regulations applicable to companies listed on a national securities exchange, costs related to compliance and reporting obligations pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC and higher expenses for insurance, investor relations and professional services. We expect these costs will increase our operating costs.

Fulfillment and shipping expenses include the cost to operate our warehouse — or prior to Bailey 44 acquisition, costs paid to our third-party logistics provider — including occupancy and labor costs to pick and pack customer orders and any return orders; packaging; and shipping costs to the customer from the warehouse and any returns from the customer to the warehouse.

In addition, going forward, the amortization of the identifiable intangibles acquired in the acquisitions will be included in operating expenses.

Interest Expense

Interest expense consists primarily of interest related to our debt outstanding to our senior lender, convertible debt, and other interest bearing liabilities.

Stateside

Net Revenue

Stateside sells its products directly to customers. Stateside also sells its products indirectly through wholesale channels that include third-party online channels and physical channels such as specialty retailers and department stores.

Cost of Net Revenue

Stateside’s cost of net revenue includes the direct cost of purchased and manufactured merchandise; inventory shrinkage; inventory adjustments due to obsolescence including excess and slow-moving inventory and lower of cost and net realizable reserves; duties; and inbound freight. Cost of net revenue also includes direct labor to production activities such as pattern makers, cutters and sewers. Cost of net revenue includes an allocation of overheard costs such as rent, utilities and commercial insurance pertaining to direct inventory activities.

Operating Expenses

Stateside’s operating expenses include all operating costs not included in cost of net revenues and sales and marketing. These costs consist of general and administrative, fulfillment and shipping expense to the customer.

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of all payroll and payroll-related expenses, professional fees, insurance, software costs, occupancy expenses related to Stateside’s stores and to Stateside’s operations at its headquarters, including utilities, depreciation and amortization, and other costs related to the administration of its business.

Stateside’s fulfillment and shipping expenses include the cost to operate its warehouse including occupancy and labor costs to pick and pack customer orders and any return orders; packaging; and shipping costs to the customer from the warehouse and any returns from the customer to the warehouse.

Sales & Marketing

Stateside’s sales and marketing expense primarily includes digital advertising; photo shoots for wholesale and direct-to-consumer communications, including email, social media and digital advertisements; and commission expenses associated with sales representatives.

Sundry

Net Revenue

Sundry sells its products directly to customers. Sundry also sells its products indirectly through wholesale channels that include third-party online channels and physical channels such as specialty retailers and department stores.

Cost of Net Revenue

Sundry’s cost of net revenue includes the direct cost of purchased and manufactured merchandise; inventory shrinkage; inventory adjustments due to obsolescence including excess and slow-moving inventory and lower of cost and net realizable reserves; duties; and inbound freight. Cost of net revenue also includes direct labor to production activities such as pattern makers, cutters and sewers. Cost of net revenue includes an allocation of overheard costs such as rent, utilities and commercial insurance pertaining to direct inventory activities.

Operating Expenses

Our operating expenses include all operating costs not included in cost of net revenues. These costs consist of general and administrative, sales and marketing, and fulfillment and shipping expense to the customer.

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of all payroll and payroll-related expenses, stock-based compensation, professional fees, insurance, software costs, and expenses related to our operations at our headquarters, including utilities, depreciation and amortization, and other costs related to the administration of our business.

Sales and marketing expense primarily includes digital advertising; photo shoots for wholesale and direct-to-consumer communications, including email, social media and digital advertisements; and commission expenses associated with sales representatives.

We expect to incur additional expenses as a result of operating as a public company, including costs to comply with the rules and regulations applicable to companies listed on a national securities exchange, costs related to compliance and reporting obligations pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC and higher expenses for insurance, investor relations and professional services. We expect these costs will increase our operating costs.

Distribution expenses includes costs paid to our third-party logistics provider, packaging and shipping costs to the customer from the warehouse and any returns from the customer to the warehouse.

At each reporting period, we estimate changes in the fair value of contingent consideration and recognize any change in fair in our consolidated statement of operations, which is included in operating expenses. Additionally, amortization of the identifiable intangibles acquired in the acquisitions is also included in operating expenses.

Interest Expense

Interest expense consists primarily of interest related to our debt outstanding to promissory notes, convertible debt, and other interest bearing liabilities

Results of Operations

Three Months Ended June 30, 2024 compared to Three Months Ended June 30 , 2023

The following table presents our results of operations for the Three months ended June 30, 2024 and 2023:

Net Revenues

Revenues decreased by $1.1 million to $3.4 million for the three months ended June 30, 2024, compared to $4.5 million in the corresponding fiscal period in 2023. The decrease was primarily due to a delay in wholesale shipments in April 2024, and lower ecommerce revenues across each brand due to less digital advertising spend.

Gross Profit

Our gross profit decreased by $0.7 million for the three months ended June 30, 2024 to $1.6 million from a gross profit of $2.3 million for the corresponding fiscal period in 2023. The decrease in gross margin was primarily attributable to a decrease in sales.

Our gross margin was 46% for three months ended June 30, 2024, compared to 52% for the three months ended June 30, 2023. The decrease in gross margin was due to corresponding decrease in the ecommerce revenue.

Operating Expenses/(Income)

Our operating expenses increased by $9.1 million for the three months ended June 30, 2024 to $3.8 million compared to $(5.2) million for the corresponding fiscal period in 2023. General and administrative expenses decreased by $1.1 million, and sales and marketing expenses decreased by $0.5 million. The deceases were primarily due to cost cutting measures and synergies from the Sundry acquisition including the elimination of its warehouse, office, fulfillment and redundancies in headcount. Other operating expenses included a gain of $10.7 million in 2023 due to the change in fair value of contingent consideration.

Other Income (Expenses)

Other expenses were $1.2 million while other expense was $1.1 million for the three months ended June 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively, primarily consisting of interest expense.

Net Loss from Continuing Operations

Our net loss from continuing operations decreased by $10.0 million to a net loss from continuing operations of $3.5 million for the three months ended June 30, 2024 compared to income from continuing operations of $6.5 million for the corresponding fiscal period in 2023, primarily due to the change in fair value of contingent consideration in 2023 and lower gross profit in 2024, partially offset by lower general and administrative and sales and marketing expenses.

Six Months Ended June 30, 2024 compared to Six Months Ended June 30, 2023

The following table presents our results of operations for the six months ended June 30, 2024 and 2023:

Net Revenues

Revenues decreased by $1.9 million to $7.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2024, compared to $8.9 million in the corresponding fiscal period in 2023. The decrease was primarily due to a delay in wholesale shipments in April 2024, and lower ecommerce revenues across each brand due to less digital advertising spend.

Gross Profit

Our gross profit decreased by $1.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2024 to $3.3 million from a gross profit of $4.3 million for the corresponding fiscal period in 2023. The decrease in gross margin was primarily attributable to a decrease in sales.

Our gross margin was 47% for six months ended June 30, 2024, compared to 49% for the six months ended June 30, 2023. The decrease in gross margin was due to corresponding decrease in the ecommerce revenue.

Operating Expenses

Our operating expenses increased by $5.6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2024 to $5.8 million compared to $0.2 million for the corresponding fiscal period in 2023. General and administrative expenses decreased by $4.5 million, and sales and marketing expenses decreased by $0.7 million. The deceases were primarily due to cost cutting measures and synergies from the Sundry acquisition including the elimination of its warehouse, office, fulfillment and redundancies in headcount. Other operating expenses included a gain of $10.7 million in 2023 due to the change in fair value of contingent consideration.

Other Income (Expenses)

Other expenses were $1.7 million while other expense was $3.6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively. Interest expense in 2024 decreased due to less merchant advances and lower principal on outstanding loans.

Net Loss from Continuing Operations

Our net loss from continuing operations increased by $4.7 million to a net loss from continuing operations of $4.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2024 compared to income from continuing operations of $0.5 million for the corresponding fiscal period in 2023, primarily due to the change in fair value of contingent consideration in 2023 and lower gross profit in 2024, partially offset by lower general and administrative and sales and marketing expenses.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Each of DBG, Bailey, Stateside and Sundry has historically satisfied our liquidity needs and funded operations with borrowings capital raises and internally generated cash flow, Changes in working capital, most notably accounts receivable, are driven primarily by levels of business activity. Historically each of DBG, Bailey, Stateside and Sundry has maintained credit line facilities to support such working capital needs and makes repayments on that facility with excess cash flow from operations.

As of June 30, 2024, we had cash of $92,794, but we had a working capital deficit of $14.9 million. The Company requires significant capital to meet its obligations as they become due. These factors raise substantial doubt about our Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Throughout the next twelve months, the Company intends to fund its operations primarily from the funds raised through the equity line of credit agreement. The Company may pursue secondary offerings or debt financings to provide working capital and satisfy debt obligations. There can be no assurance as to the availability or terms upon which such financing and capital might be available in the future. If the Company is unable to secure additional funding, it may be forced to curtail or suspend its business plans.

Cash Flow Activities

The following table presents selected captions from our condensed statement of cash flows for the six months ended June 30, 2024 and 2023:

Cash Flows Used In Operating Activities

Our cash used by operating activities decreased by $0.2 million to cash used of $2.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2024, as compared to cash used of $3.0 million for the corresponding fiscal period in 2023. The decrease in net cash used in operating activities was primarily driven by non-cash charges in 2024, partially offset by our net loss and cash used in operating assets and liabilities.

Cash Flows Provided By (Used in) Investing Activities

Our cash used investing activities was $101,080 in the six months ended June 30, 2024, primarily due to purchase of property, equipment & software and deposits on leases.

Our cash provided by investing activities was $41,331 in 2023 primarily due to a reduction of deposits, partially offset by purchase of property and cash sold in the H&J disposition.

Cash Flows Provided by Financing Activities

Cash provided by financing activities was $2.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2024. Cash inflows included $4.6 million in net proceeds from the issuance from the common stock for cash and $0.5 million in proceeds from loans and notes. Cash outflows are primarily due to $2.2 million in repayments of notes.

Cash provided by financing activities was $2.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2023. Cash inflows included $5.0 million in net proceeds from the January Private Transaction, $4.19 million in proceeds from loans and promissory notes and $0.2 million in advances from the factor.

Contractual Obligations and Commitments

As of June 30, 2024, we had $8.7 million in outstanding principal on debt, primarily our promissory notes due to the Bailey44 Sellers, the March 2023 Notes, PPP and merchant advances. Aside from our remaining non-current SBA obligations, all outstanding loans have maturity dates through 2024.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations is based on our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States. The preparation of our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, costs and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities in our financial statements. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events and various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

Emerging Growth Company Status

We are an emerging growth company as that term is used in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 and, as such, have elected to comply with certain reduced public company reporting requirements.

Section 107 of the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an emerging growth company can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have elected to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period. Our financial statements may, therefore, not be comparable to those of companies that comply with such new or revised accounting standards.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We did not have during the periods presented, and we do not currently have, any off-balance sheet arrangements, as defined in the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

We are a smaller reporting company as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) and are not required to provide the information required under this item.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

We maintain “disclosure controls and procedures” as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports we file and submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. In designing and evaluating our disclosure controls and procedures, management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives, and management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the benefits of possible controls and procedures relative to their costs.

Our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, who serve as our principal executive officer and principal financial and accounting officer, respectively, has evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of June 30, 2024. In making this evaluation, our management considered the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting described below. Based on such evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of such date.

We have initiated various remediation efforts, including the hiring of additional financial personnel/consultants with the appropriate public company and technical accounting expertise and other actions that are more fully described below. As such remediation efforts are still ongoing, we have concluded that the material weaknesses have not been fully remediated. Our remediation efforts to date have included the following:

• We have made an assessment of the basis of accounting, revenue recognition policies and accounting period cutoff procedures. In some cases, we made the necessary adjustments to convert the basis of accounting from cash basis to accrual basis. In all cases we have done the required analytical work to ensure the proper cutoff of the financial position and results of operations for the presented accounting periods.
• We have made an assessment of the current accounting personnel, financial reporting and information system environments and capabilities. Based on our preliminary findings, we have found these resources and systems lacking and have concluded that these resources and systems will need to be supplemented and/or upgraded. We are in the process of identifying a single, unified accounting and reporting system that can be used by the Company and Bailey, with the goal of ensuring consistency and timeliness in reporting, real time access to data while also ensuring ongoing data integrity, backup and cyber security procedures and processes.
• We engaged external consultants with public company and technical accounting experience to facilitate accurate and timely accounting closes and to accurately prepare and review the financial statements and related footnote disclosures. We plan to retain these financial consultants until such time that the internal resources of the Company have been upgraded and the required financial controls have been fully implemented.
• We have made an assessment on significant judgments and estimates, including impairment of long-lived assets and inventory valuation. We plan to take the steps as noted above to have the proper resources to conduct proper analyses on areas requiring judgments and estimates.

The actions that have been taken are subject to continued review, implementation and testing by management, as well as audit committee oversight. While we have implemented a variety of steps to remediate these weaknesses, we cannot assure you that we will be able to fully remediate them, which could impair our ability to accurately and timely meet our public company reporting requirements.

Notwithstanding the assessment that our internal controls over financial reporting are not effective and that material weaknesses exist, we believe that we have employed supplementary procedures to ensure that the financial statements contained in this filing fairly present our financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the reporting periods covered herein in all material respects.

Limitations on Effectiveness of Controls and Procedures

Our management, including our Chief Executive Officer (Principal Executive Officer) and Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial Officer), does not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures will prevent all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met. Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within the Company have been detected. These inherent limitations include, but are not limited to, the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty and that breakdowns can occur because of simple error or mistake. Additionally, controls can be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people, or by management override of the control. The design of any system of controls also is based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Over time, controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate. Because of the inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.

Management believes that the material weakness set forth above did not have an effect on our financial results.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

No change in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) occurred during the quarter ended June 30, 2024 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

As a “smaller reporting company” as defined by Item 10 of Regulation S-K, we are not required to provide information required by this Item.