walmart is upping on your bet in the sportswear market.
The massive channel marketer unveiled its latest effort on Friday: a women’s swimwear and sportswear brand called Love & Sports.
Walmart’s latest creation is the Love & Sports swimwear and sportswear brand.
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“It’s actually emerging to be a lifestyle brand,” Denise Incandela, executive vice president of apparel and private label, told WWD, referring to Walmart’s plans to expand the brand into other categories. “We felt like 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 is certainly very differentiated in its aesthetics. It focuses on being high-performance, bold colors, 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, sweats, jackets, leggings and swimwear in neon colors (think lime and watermelon hues, to name a few), with technical features such as moisture-wicking fabrics, pants with pockets, reflective tapes, zippers metallic, 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, pumped, 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 livestreaming 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 for its versatility,” added Smith, who cut his teeth at the houses of Dior, Hermès and Louis Vuitton before founding womenswear brand Milly in 2001. He sold the brand 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 ditch comfortable clothes anytime soon.”
Incandela is also unconcerned 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 the 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 the consumer wants to dress right now and it is only natural that sportswear is the next step in expanding our portfolio of elevated brands to be able to meet their needs, which range from the gym to the street. . —and incorporate a sort of streetwear look into sportswear, as you look for ongoing comfort.
“And we have a lot of different categories that are 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 continuing.”
Walmart Love & Sports brand pieces.
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Meanwhile, w.alert has been expanding its fashion assortment, adding more than 1,000 apparel, accessories and national brands to its lineup, 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), such as Sofia Vergara’s Jeans, Avia, Free Assembly and Scoop. Designer Brandon Maxwell works as creative director of these last two brands.
“We have 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 core consumers, to high price points [from] both our exclusive and private brands, as well as national brands. Therefore, we are thinking about our customers’ wardrobe 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’re working to move with speed and we’re 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 a large part 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 so we can 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 think the assortment will resonate best in the market. And that’s a pretty big release for us. We typically start with a smaller store launch 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 lineup in May, as well as new collections each season. (Shoes and accessories are coming this fall.) Pieces range in price from $12 to $42 and sizes XS to 3XL. Swimsuits come in XS to 2XL.
“You could have five of our bras in every color for the price of one bra that’s available on the market right now,” Griffith said. “And our brand definitely energizes the floor. It completely stands out from anything else out there.”
Source: wwd.com