Landing in retailer Sundance Living was almost a bucket list-level goal for Sierra Otto.
She started her demi-fine jewelry company, Sierra Winter Jewelry, in her basement in 2015 and made it official the next year.
“I probably started emailing Sundance shortly after,” she said and laughed.
After seven years of emailing the lifestyle brand roughly once a quarter, Otto finally got her yes, thanks to an independent sales rep. Sundance placed a $15,000 order with Kansas City-based Sierra Winter last fall to gear up for its spring lineup. Otto shipped the jewelry in January, and Sundance sold out of the first order. It placed a second order of $7,000 for a different batch of jewelry and then submitted a $6,000 re-order of the pieces that shipped in January.
Otto has never been paid and, with the company’s ongoing liquidation, she’ll likely see nothing.
“It is wild,” she said. “What’s so frustrating is you want to work with these bigger retailers, because it’s great exposure for your brand. It’s great to say, ‘Hey, we’re a designer that’s carried in XYZ stores that are nationally known.’ … It’s very validating when a bigger company wants your jewelry. Thankfully, we’ve had a strong 9 years, but this kind of thing can break a jewelry brand.”
Orders, but no payments
Founded by actor and director Robert Redford, Sundance — formerly known as Sundance Catalog — built a reputation for curating high-quality small-batch jewelry, clothing and other goods from artisans. Sundance’s first catalogue was mailed in 1989. It later branched out into brick-and-mortar stores and now has 16, including one at Town Center Plaza in Leawood. All 16 stores are closing.
Redford sold his interest in the business in 2004.
Otto, who belongs to a WhatsApp group filled with Sundance artisans, said she learned some artisans stopped receiving payments in February. When Otto’s first shipment surpassed the 60-day invoice agreement, she contacted the company in early April. She was met with silence. Through other sources, she found out the company had resorted to sizable layoffs.
By the end of the month, a Sundance executive told her the company was working to secure outside funding and hoped to start making payments in May.
A bankruptcy court filing confirmed Sundance’s struggles to make loan payments and secure additional financing. Sundance couldn’t find a buyer and enlisted Corbin Liquidation LLC on June 25 to manage its assets and start winding down business operations, including through liquidation. Amid those plans, five Sundance artisans filed a petition on July 2 to place Sundance into involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The artisans said in the filing that they’re collectively owed $2.6 million.
A hit to artisans
Otto said her WhatsApp group includes 65 artisans whose unpaid invoices range from $4,000 to more than $100,000. They’re angry, she said.
“I think a lot of trust has been lost with these larger companies,” Otto said.
One artisan shared a letter from their lawyer, who had previously inquired about securing a payment for the shipped goods. In the letter, which Otto shared with the Kansas City Business Journal, a Sundance representative said that “based on the debt load, there is no scenario under which your client will be paid.” In the letter, Sundance said its secured lender debt is “well in excess of $150 million” and that it planned an “orderly liquidation and wind down.”
The company confirmed that when it received the artisan’s goods, it intended to pay the invoice when it came due.
“However, on April 2, 2025, when Donald Trump increased duties, with emphasis on China duties, our lenders opted to move to terminate our lending agreements,” Sundance said in the letter. “That decision pushed into the mode of liquidation, and that decision will not change.”
Some artisans in the WhatsApp group had been working with the company for roughly 20 years, Otto said. She had wanted that kind of recurring business, too.
If the orders had continued their trend, it easily would have doubled Otto’s wholesale business, which comprises 30% of her overall sales. And it would have gotten her closer to her goal of opening additional stores beyond her Brookside location.
Otto shipped her first two orders to Sundance and already had produced the jewelry for the third order. She refused to ship the third order, however, citing nonpayment. It left her with an overstock of 100-plus necklaces in two styles.
“We would have never normally carried that (kind of) backstock,” she said. “They’re great necklaces. They will sell. It’s just going to take us a long time to sell them.”
To move the two necklace styles faster, she put them on sale and made a Facebook Reel detailing her rocky experience with Sundance. She received encouraging comments — and sales.
“People have been very supportive in buying them. It has been very cool to see how much people have rallied around us,” she said. “It’s nice to know that you have people in your corner.”
She hopes consumers look at the brands on Sundance’s website and shop directly with the designers, instead.
'You play by their terms'
Otto said the experience has taught her that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. It’s tough for small businesses to chase the bigger retailers.
“We want to work with these brands so bad, but there’s no negotiation room,” she said. “They’re not going to pay check-on-delivery or COD. They’re not going to pay you 50% upfront. If you want to work with them, you play by their terms.”
Those terms typically are net 30 and net 60 invoices. Since Sierra Winter never received a payment from Sundance, the independent sales rep never received her commission, either, Otto said.
“The terms need to change, and I hope that we and other designers can start having those conversations with the larger companies when they place an order,” she said.
Although the unpaid invoices won’t end Sierra Winter, the situation could be the final blow to other small artisans, Otto said.
Moving on
Although Otto still wants wholesale accounts, she’ll be focused on growing direct-to-consumer sales. She’s optimistic about the future. Her success is built on designing unique jewelry, she said.
“It all comes from my head. I’m hand-drawing every component. There’s a lot of love that goes into that, and I think people have been able to tell that.”
She’s been open to trying new business opportunities, including hosting pop-ups and collaborating with other local brands and stylists. Multiple celebrities also have donned her jewelry, including Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves, Heidi Gardner and Lainey Wilson. In 2016, Sierra Winter was carried in five local stores. It’s now in 100-plus stores throughout the U.S. Its jewelry has been sold in Anthropologie and Free People.
“The Sundance thing is not fun, but there’s so many things that make up for that,” Otto said. “Yes, I’m angry, but we have to move on because we know there’s awesome things ahead.”
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