Walmart is going high fashion with its latest partnership.
The Bentonville retailer has hired fashion designer Brandon Maxwell to serve as the creative director for its new exclusive fashion lines, Free Assembly and Scoop. Part of Walmart’s private brand apparel division, these clothing lines are aimed at providing “quality, on-trend and accessible fashion” to customers.
In this capacity, Maxwell will head up four seasonal collections for Free Assembly and Scoop every year, beginning with the Holiday 2021 collections. His first full collection will be available in spring 2020.
The Free Assembly collection, launched in fall 2020, is designed as a “modern fashion essentials brand,” according to Walmart, focusing on simple design, while Scoop is a trend-focused line that was relaunched as a Walmart exclusive in fall 2019.
Maxwell is a noted fashion designer, serving as the fashion director for pop superstar Lady Gaga, in addition to dressing numerous other celebrities. He also serves as a judge on the long-running fashion competition show Project Runway.
According to a Vogue report, the collaboration between Maxwell and Walmart began in earnest more than one year ago when Maxwell met with Walmart executive vice president for apparel and private brands Denise Incandela for lunch. “By and large you can always get to a Walmart, and to be able to bring fashion to so many different people is what I’ve always wanted to do. I was excited to hear from Denise that passion is a big priority for Walmart, also,” Maxwell told Vogue.
Maxwell is also designing an exclusive line of masks for Walmart, which will be available immediately.
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