walmart is upping the ante on your bet in the sportswear market.
The mass-channel retailer unveiled its latest effort on Friday: a women’s sportswear and swimwear brand called Love & Sports.
Walmart’s latest creation is sportswear and swimwear brand Love & Sports.
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“It’s really emerging to be a lifestyle brand,” Denise Incandela, executive vice president of apparel and private labels, told WWD, referring to Walmart’s plans to expand the brand into other categories. “We felt it was a blank space within our collection. It is the first of its kind in terms of price points: the average retail unit [prices] are higher than our current opening prices. And it certainly is very differentiated in its aesthetics. It focuses on high performance, bold colours, fashion forward, gym to street style, much more than any other brand we have.”
Walmart Love & Sports brand pieces.
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The collection includes sports bras, hoodies, jackets, leggings and swimwear in neon colors (think shades of lime and watermelon, to name a few), with technical features like moisture-wicking fabrics, pants with pockets, reflective taping, zippers metallics, lace-up shorts and roll-up waistbands, all designed in collaboration with fashion designer Michelle Smith and fitness instructor Stacey Griffith.
“The world needs to feel energized, encouraged, bright and bold,” said Griffith, who brings more than 30 years of professional fitness experience. She is also one of the founding instructors of SoulCycle. “That’s one of the reasons we designed this collection — we were working out every day at home and I was going live on Instagram every hour, on the hour, and I started running out of clothes to wear.”
Walmart’s Love & Sports brand was designed in collaboration with fashion designer Michelle Smith, right, and fitness instructor Stacey Griffith.
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“The collection is designed to be mixed and matched because of its versatility,” added Smith, who cut her teeth at the houses of Dior, Hermès and Louis Vuitton before founding womenswear label Milly in 2001. She sold the label in 2019. “And it’s still comfortable. People have gotten so used to comforting [during the pandemic]. I don’t think we’re going to want to get out of comfortable clothes anytime soon.”
Incandela is also not worried about the potential decline of sportswear, now that the world is (hopefully) opening up again for in-person events and so many brands have entered the space. The executive cited a recent statistic from NPD Group that said sportswear grew 37 percent in 2021.
“Since the pandemic, sportswear has been a high-growth and important category for consumers,” he said. “There is a shift in the way consumers want to dress right now, and it’s only natural that sportswear is the next step in expanding our portfolio of elevated brands to meet their needs, from the gym to the street. . — and incorporate a sort of streetwear look into sportswear, as you’re looking for continuous comfort.
“And we have a lot of different categories popping up right now—dresses and more tailored clothing are popping up as well,” Incandela continued. “So I think there’s room for a lot of different categories as she’s thinking about her wardrobe essentials, and we see sportswear continue.”
Walmart Love & Sports brand pieces.
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Meanwhile, w.alert has been expanding its fashion assortment, adding more than 1,000 national apparel, accessories, and brands to its line, including names like Levi’s, Champion, Reebok, Free People, Jordache, Lee, Bonobos, and Eloquii, in recent years. “We’ll probably add more than 100 national brands a year,” Incandela told WWD earlier this year.
Walmart Love & Sports brand pieces.
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The retailer has an extensive list of its own clothing brands (three of which are worth more than $2 billion each, though the company declined to specify which ones), including Sofia Vergara’s Sofia Jeans, Avia, Free Assembly and Scoop. Designer Brandon Maxwell works as creative director of these last two brands.
“We’ve been on a multi-year journey to continue working to establish ourselves as a hot destination,” Incandela said recently. “That includes everything from opening price points for mainstream consumers, to high price points [from] both our exclusive and private brands, as well as national brands. Therefore, we are thinking about the wardrobe of our customers and how to attract them to buy from us by expanding our assortment.
“We hope there will be more announcements in the future,” he added. “We are working to move with speed and we are working to identify opportunities that are really going to resonate. Product is a big focus for us and making sure we have the product to meet all of your wardrobe needs, or much of your wardrobe needs. So we’re constantly thinking about where we can partner with others to bring that to our customers, or what national brands we want to offer in order to satisfy our customers. So it’s all on the table.”
Walmart’s Love & Sports swimwear assortment will arrive in May.
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Love & Sports’ inaugural activewear assortment (121 pieces total) goes on sale Friday at walmart.com, as well as in 1,500 stores nationwide. Incandela said the company will continue to roll out the assortment to other locations in the future.
“We choose stores based on a combination of things,” Incandela said. “We are launching to the 1,500 stores where we believe the assortment will resonate best with the market. And that’s a pretty big spread for us. We typically start by launching a smaller store and assess how the consumer is reacting and then evolve over time based on what the consumer is looking for from us and how they receive the assortment.”
Additionally, shoppers can expect to see the brand’s swimwear line in May, as well as new collections each season. (Shoes and accessories are coming this fall.) The pieces range in price from $12 to $42 and sizes XS to 3XL. Bathing suits come in XS to 2XL.
“You could have five of our bras in every color for the price of one bra that’s on the market right now,” Griffith said. “And our brand definitely energizes the floor. It completely stands out from anything else out there.”
Source: news.google.com