Walmart poached a fashion designer who’s dressed Lady Gaga, Oprah, and Michelle Obama to boost sales for its private-label brands. Here’s a look at his inaugural collections.

• Brandon Maxwell is debuting two new spring collections at Walmart.
• The fashion designer is the creative director for Free Assembly and Scoop.
• Both brands are exclusive to Walmart.

Walmart is unveiling two new collections from fashion designer and in-house creative director Brandon Maxwell on Tuesday. Private label brands Free Assembly and Scoop will each release a spring collection, marking the in-store debut of the collaboration between the retail giant and the fashion designer. 

“Scoop is a legendary fashion boutique that we’ve reimagined as your exclusive brand — it’s competent, optimistic, and on-trend,” Denise Incandela, executive vice president of apparel and private brands for Walmart US, told Insider. “Free Assembly is a modern clothing essentials brand with a commitment to sustainability.”

Maxwell was named creative director of Walmart’s two premium, private-label fashion lines in 2021.

Stars like Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, Jennifer Lawrence, and Nicole Kidman have worn Maxwell’s sophisticated, tailored garments. He also appeared as a judge on Bravo TV’s Project Runway. But Maxwell — who has spoken about shopping at Walmart while growing up in Texas — said he’d long dreamed of collaborating with Walmart on an affordable fashion line.

“He grew up shopping at Walmart, and he knows our customer really well. He has the same values that we do in terms of creating a beautiful assortment but at an exceptional value,” Incandela said. 

The products in Free Assembly’s sprawling spring collection of around 500 items will range in price from $8 to $48. That brand carries items for men, women, and children. The Free Assembly line will also expand to 1,000 Walmart stores, up from 500. The cost of women’s-only Scoop garments runs from $18 to $75. 

Both brands are exclusive to Walmart. The retail giant revived Scoop, which had previously been a New York boutique brand, back in 2019. Walmart launched the brand Free Assembly in 2020. Both are considered “elevated brands,” meaning that they incorporate finer quality fabrics and craftsmanship than Walmart’s other in-house brands.

“We felt that there was a white space — certainly within our portfolio, but even within the industry — for both brands,” Incandela said. “Over the past several years, we’ve been working to establish Walmart as a destination for fashion, with a huge focus on expanding our assortment of exclusive elevated brands.”

“One of the goals when starting my fashion brand was to create beautiful clothing for everyone,” Maxwell said in an interview published on Walmart’s blog. “This partnership allows me to fulfill that dream on a larger scale.” 

While Maxwell’s personal brand’s aesthetic is markedly different from Free Assembly and Scoop, he immersed himself in each label over the course of 2021, he said. Maxwell came up with a Free Assembly spring collection that emphasizes “stripes,
gingham, eyelet, spring fleece, color blocking, and printed denim.” Scoop’s spring drop will feature denim, as well as “bold, vibrant colors and high energy prints.”

“I don’t think the aesthetics of the lines have changed, but what I’m bringing to each brand is more cohesion across all categories,” Maxwell said.

Maxwell will also be designing seasonal collections for both brands for the summer. Incandela said that shoppers can expect more from the partnership going forward.

“I think that it is a very unique collection to have someone of Brandon’s caliber work at that price point,” Incandela told Insider. “There’s a lot coming, and we’re very excited about it.”