Looking for a wardrobe redo? My Wal-Mart fall haul will inspire you to up your style game with just a few, affordable pieces.
Warning: this story will date me.
My first trip to Wal-Mart grabbed me and pulled me in. Not since my childhood trips to our neighborhood five and dime had I experienced so many options for so little cash.
Long ago, my best friend, a small town native, laughed at my big-city ways when I told her I’d never heard of the store. She made it her mission to initiate me the first time I spent a weekend with her family.
In those days, Wal-Mart stores were the domains of small town folks, and all the tags read “Made in the USA.” Oh, how far we’ve come.
Love Them or Hate Them?
Whether you love them or hate them, the fact is, Wal-Mart is here to stay and they’ve now become an apparel giant.
Within the last year, the interwebs have been abuzz with the upscale styling of Wal-Mart’s new labels. But what’s behind the change?
In spring of 2018, Wal-Mart released four labels, priced from $5 to $30, across their clothing demographic:
- Time and Tru for women
- Terra & Sky for plus-sized women
- Wonder Nation for children, and
- George for men (this label has been removed from women’s)
As a result of fierce competition for consumer dollars, Wal-Mart began the race to win buyer allegiance. Once embarrassingly boxy styles and dodgy workmanship have given way to trendy, well-made clothing options with appealing attention to detail.
We listened to our customers and are proud to deliver apparel choices that meet at the intersection of everything they desire…
Deanah Baker, SVP of Apparel, Wal-Mart U.S.
Sending Love Our Way
If you’re a woman over 40, you’ve probably found the Time and Tru brand especially responsive to your changing figure. You’ll see several examples in my Wal-Mart fall haul video above.
As a result of these fashion forward changes, women are dashing into their local Wal-Mart for groceries and leaving with flimsy, plastic bags bulging with tops and jeans too good to pass up.
Consequently, the savvy store’s 4 private clothing labels give them an edge in unique design as well as profit margin. And that’s not all. Wal-Mart has a competitive edge over rivals Target and Amazon because of it’s unsurpassed manufacturing volume.
“Wal-Mart has life or death decisions over (almost) all the consumer goods industries that exist in the United States, because it is the number-one supplier-retailer of most of our consumer goods — not just clothes, shoes, toys, but home appliances, electronic products, sporting goods, bicycles, groceries, food.”
Gary Gereffi, Duke University professor
Big Fish, Little Fish
Within the last 10 years, my town has doubled its number of Wal-Mart superstores. Initially, local citizens were alarmed that smaller grocers (all located within a couple blocks of the new Wal-Marts) would go belly-up.
Instead of losing out to the retailing whale, the smaller stores in our town seem to have settled nicely into their niche. Competition has forced the “baby fish” to improve their customer shopping experience, add specialty services like coffee shops, and focus on higher quality goods.
Is there room in the pond for everyone? Only time will tell. For now, the consumer is queen in getting exceptional value on stylish apparel.
Wal-Mart Haul
Today’s Wal-Mart fall haul features transition items that will bridge from end of summer to cooler days of falling leaves and toasty fires. I’m focusing on 15 classic pieces that will expand and diversify your existing wardrobe without forcing you to neglect your retirement savings plan.
In my next post, I’ll pull out 10 of these items and show you how to put together a “capsule wardrobe” of curated clothing pieces you can mix and match for years to come.
Up Your Style
If you’ve been too busy financing your kids’ closets to keep up to date with your own look, I challenge you to draw a line in the fashion sand.
Make an iron-clad appointment with yourself to clean out worn, stained and outdated items-even if they hold sentimental value. (Yes, that means the curly-necked t-shirt you wore when you nursed your oldest kid gets put on the curb.)
Say Goodbye to Frumpy
This also means saying “goodbye” to the size 2 designer sweater you purchased when DVDs were the latest tech and you could still convince yourself a few situps would shrink your waist 5 inches.
Whether or not you choose to purchase these items, I hope my Wal-Mart fall haul will inspire you to invest in yourself. A new look will remind you that you are on a process of rediscovery that’s about much more than what you are wearing.
Share your treasures with us below or on my Facebook page! If you’ve found a new style or bargain shopping location, we’d love to know.
Here are the links I promised to each featured piece. The website has not yet uploaded some items. For those, I listed the brand so you can hopefully find it in your store.
Shoes and Accessories
- Quilted Slip On Shoes (14.88)
- Black/Plaid Pointy Toe Flats (14.97)
- Snakeskin Small Crossbody bag Time and Tru (10.88)
- Pink/Plaid Small Crossbody bag No Boundaries (10.88)
- Silver Teardrop earrings (2.88)
Outerwear
Tops
- Knotted Tank Avia (8.88)
- Red Plaid Short-Sleeve T No Boundaries (11.50)
- Striped Boatneck Top (10.94)
- V Neck Twist Sweater No Boundaries (10.96)
- Classic Dress Shirt (14.96)
Pants and Leggings
- Side Stripe Leggings (12.88)
- Snakeskin Leggings No Boundaries(4.44)
- Midrise or Highrise Skinny Jeans No Boundaries (9.88)
