Ashley Stewart is headed to Walmart as the discounter’s premier plus-size lifestyle collection.
The move is in addition to other plans to add category extensions at Ashley Stewart to build out its presence as a lifestyle brand and shopping destination, according to Julia Klyashtorny, who is president of manufacturing firm Apparel Solutions and the chief creative officer of Ashley Stewart.
Apparel Solutions and RA Capital are partners in Kinbow, the entity that acquired the majority stake in Ashley Stewart this past March. Apparel Solutions designs and manufactures proprietary and licensed-private label brands for retailers in the U.S., as well as in Canada, Italy, the U.K., and Japan. Over two decades old, the firm has extensive retail connections as a supplier to Walmart, Dillard’s, Macy’s, HSN, QVC and other retailers.
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Klyashtorny’s firm has a Long Island City factory employing 120 workers that has a capacity to produce about 100,000 units per month. It manufactures for Walmart under its Made in America initiative for the Sophia Vergara and Scoop labels. And as the only women’s majority-owned fashion approved supplier in the U.S. for Walmart, that puts it in a special position to leverage its relationship with the mass discounter and manufacturing expertise to build out Ashley Stewart’s customer base.
“As a part of the collaboration, Ashley Stewart will supply exclusive collections to Walmart that will be available on Walmart.com and potentially in stores,” Klyashtorny said. “Walmart will brand Ashley Stewart as a premiere plus size lifestyle collection where Ashley Stewart would gain visibility and customers nationwide, especially where the customer is further from an Ashley Stewart brick-and-mortar store.”
She said Walmart and Ashley Stewart will cross promote and leverage to drive sales. The price points for the Ashley Stewart line, which are initially just for women’s apparel, are expected to range between $30 and $60. And there’s been discussions with Walmart about the brand adding other categories to its collections, including plus-size foundations, Klyashtorny said.
When Kinbow acquired Ashley Stewart, its new owners had high hopes for the brand, with specific ideas on how to grow it to its fullest potential through product extensions. They are already moving ahead on those plans, with a timeline set for later this year and in 2025.
The Ashley Stewart brand just launched soft home goods online. That will be followed by bridal between December and January 2025, and then footwear in March 2025. Also on the agenda for 2025 is men’s big and tall and food as part of its gifts assortment.
Key to the new line extensions will be the vertical integration with Apparel Solutions’ manufacturing outreach and capabilities. The company’s design studio is in Manhattan in the heart of N.Y.C.’s Fashion District. It also has connections with factories in India and China. And there is a separate Ashley Stewart design studio at the brand’s headquarters in Secaucus, N.J.
According to Klyashtorny, Apparel Solutions has experience manufacturing in areas beyond women’s apparel.
“Apparel Solutions manufactured men’s apparel for private label both in China and Japan, as well as unisex clothing for USA TV Shopping channels, including HSN and ShopHQ, as well as for the Canadian market,” Klyashtorny said. “Big and Tall collection for Ashley Stewart is a natural extension of the plus size offerings for Women and will be launched for Summer of 2025.”
For footwear, Shoes for Ashley Stewart would be launched online for Spring 2025, followed by in-store launch slated for Fall 2025. Home goods are already part of Apparel Solutions’ private label distribution in Asia and Canada. “Food and gifts are being sourced from partner companies of Ashley Stewart out of Canada,” she said. Also being contemplated is a foray into the beauty category, possibly in Fall of 2025, Klyashtorny disclosed.
To build out the brand into a shopping destination with a lifestyle focus, the Ashley Stewart owners established a new division with specific oversight for business development and strategic partnerships.
“Janet Scibetta is leading this department and part of this new initiative is to create relationships with additional retailers like the Walmart collaboration. In addition, Janet is going to be bringing celebrity, influencer and designer partnerships and licensing to Ashley Stewart,” Klyashtorney said.
Ashley Stewart is in prime position to become the premier plus-size brand for Walmart. And even with the emphasis on wellness and growth and the use of Ozempic and similar GLP-1 drugs, fit technology firm Bold Metrics‘ CEO Daina Burnes said she hasn’t yet seen data points that “have begun to make an impact that retailers may consider nationally important.” That suggests there’s still plenty of white space in the plus-size market for the Ashley Stewart brand.
