Wait, is Walmart cool now?

I have a question — a serious one, don't laugh: Is Walmart actually cool now?
On TikTok and Instagram, people are showing off Walmart"hauls" — particularly for kids' clothing. These videos tend to be similar: excited shoppers going through a bag of clothes still on the hanger and admiring each item, often expressing surprise or shock that the piece of clothing is so cute or trendy, considering it's from Walmart.
One TikTok creator who posts videos of fashion and home items mostly from Target recently posted a video of her cart at Walmart with the caption "WALMART IS THAT GIRL 👏🏽 ."
In another video, a woman shows off the plastic tumbler glasses in the Walmart home section, marveling, "Doesn't this scream Anthro vibes?" nodding to much more expensive Anthropologie. In the comments on her video, someone writes, "Walmart is really stepping it up!"
Maybe Walmart really is stepping it up.
Breann Day, a mom of two, recently made one of those haul videos — not sponsored by Walmart, she confirmed to me — expressing surprise at the "elite" baby clothes she picked up. She held up a tiny pair of baby shorts. "Three dollars! Target could never!"
"I like it more than Target," Day told me. She said a house brand at Target, Cat & Jack, seems to "never change," especially for boys' clothes. The selection for girls' clothes is still better at Target, she says, but "I can find just as cute — and cheaper — from Walmart."
Personally, I can say that I, too, have found the appeal of Walmart's Wonder Nation kids' line. It rivals the slightly higher-priced Cat & Jack line from Target, which was previously a staple for my two kids.
For instance: My daughter loves a poufy dress; at Walmart, there is a dress that comes in 14 different colors for $9.98; Target's Cat & Jack has a similar dress that comes in only three colors for $15.00. After her $27.99 light-up Elsa sneakers from Target sprang a hole, I replaced them with nearly identical non-light-up "Frozen" sneakers for $13.96 from Walmart.
As I have shopped Walmart for kids' clothes, I've also picked up some clothing for myself. I have a pair of pajama sets from Walmart's Joyspun label, which is cheaper than the comparable version from Target.
I even wore a floral print shirt dress from the Free Assembly line — a Walmart house brand! — to a casual outdoor wedding.
Online clothing sales are up 23% this year at Walmart
Something must be working when it comes to clothes at Walmart. Sales are up a lot over the past year.
In 2017, Walmart hired Denise Incandela, an executive from Ralph Lauren and Saks Fifth Avenue, to attempt to revamp its fashion offerings. By 2020, Walmart had launched two apparel brands, Scoop and Free Assembly. Both had trendier clothes than dowdy Walmart had come to be known for.
Incandela overhauled the in-store displays, decluttering racks, and using mannequins for a more department store vibe. ("Every time we put stuff on a mannequin, it sells," Incandela told Fortune in a recent interview.) Walmart didn't respond to my request for comment. In its most recent earnings call, US division CEO John Furner called out its fashion specifically, saying he was "really proud of the progress in apparel."
This isn't the first time Walmart has tried decluttering to compete with Target. There was its 2009 "Project Impact" initiative, for instance. This time, something seems to be working. Walmart got me in one of its dresses, after all!
EMARKETER, BI's sister company, reports that Walmart's e-commerce sales for the apparel, footwear, and accessories category were 23% higher in 2024 than in the previous year. And the analysts there are projecting 18% growth for 2025. In comparison, EMARKETER projects that Amazon will see 3.9% growth in 2025 for its clothing category. And Target will see only a 1.5% rise in its online apparel sales, they predict.
Exactly what is driving Walmart's growth in clothes is a mix of things. Shoppers may be more price-sensitive overall, looking for clothing bargains. Tariffs had a bigger impact on retailers like Shein, which makes and ships much of its clothing directly from China.
Wealthier shoppers come to Walmart for deals on eggs, and stay for the clothes
Walmart has seen notable growth in its wealthier customers. In a recent call with investors, CFO John David Rainey told investors that one of the biggest contributors to its sales had been households that made more than $100,000 a year.
He said high-income customers had also been looking for deals as inflation took a bite from all but the biggest of budgets. Lots of growth has come from its private-label grocery items — and food and beverage make up about 60% of Walmart's overall sales. Some of those people are browsing the aisles for clothes, too.
Walmart is getting trendier in other categories, too
It's not just clothing where Walmart seems to be trending. Its BetterGoods private-label foods are meant to rival Target's Good & Gather brand, and there are more high-end offerings in food, too.
Eater reported that Walmart has started carrying some of the trendiest new pantry items. Packaged items that you'd expect to see at Whole Foods or shoppy-shops — things like Fly by Jing chili flake sauce, Magic Spoon cereal, Van Leeuwen ice cream, and Bachan's Japanese barbecue sauce.
In the beauty category, Walmart has added more prestige brands, although its offerings in that category are much slimmer than Target, which has an Ulta partnership to bring more high-end makeup and hair care brands into stores.
Target might be losing some sparkle
This all comes at a time when Walmart's chief rival, Target, is struggling in some areas. For a long time, Target had the appeal of "Tar-zhay," a place you could get stylish items for cheap. Their well-publicized designer collaborations for clothing would often sell out quickly.
Lately, Target seems to have lost some of its sparkle. On social media, people talked about boycotting the retailer over changes to its corporate DEI policies. Target's net sales were down about 2.8% in the first quarter of this year from the same time last year. Target's CEO at the time said he was "not satisfied" with its performance and had a plan for stronger growth.
Walmart is stealing some of Target's thunder
As for me and Walmart, I see the allure of its clothing.
I come in for the cheapest organic milk around and always seem to end up browsing the new kids' clothes.
And as a bargain fiend, my favorite part about wearing a Walmart dress to a wedding was telling people it was from — can you believe it? — Walmart.

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Servers blast parents whose kids make their jobs hell: ‘It's not a McDonald's PlayPlace'

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