House Editorial: Wal-Mart commits fashion faux pas
Retail giant brings high fashion to the masses — but at what cost?
Posted on September 14, 2006

Most of us, whether we will admit it or not, have a special place in our hearts and our closets for our “club outfit,” a combination of often expensive clothes that we would never think to go clubbing without. The styles represented in our outfits are based on the big design trends coming out of the fashion Mecca of New York—if they’re not the extravagantly expensive New York-based designer brand itself.

But now New York, gearing up for the all-important Olympus Fashion Week, has been quietly rocked by a proletariat revolution. Despite little industry buzz, perhaps the most important runway show this year took place on a Times Square rooftop last week. The show premiered a new, groundbreaking design house — Wal-Mart.

That’s right. Following the lead of H&M and other European fashion chains, Wal-Mart has brought designer fashion to the little people. The most expensive item shown on the runway was a leather jacket, which will retail for $98.94; for $98.94, you likely could not buy a pair of socks and a pack of gum at Bergdorf Goodman’s.

“Fashion is not just for a chosen few who have front-row seats in some elite tent somewhere,” Wal-Mart senior vice president Karen Stuckey said in a New York Times article. “What we believe is that we have millions in our stores every day that have been underserved.”

At a certain level, this is a welcome change. With Wal-Mart’s ever-expanding coverage area, there are innumerable places in the United States alone that have convenient access to “high fashion,” for perhaps the first time, to the rest of us.

But, as most developments coming from the “rollback” smiley-face people, this move into designer fashion is a sign of a disturbing trend.

For all the “Devil Wears Prada” excesses, the fashion industry is one of the few left in America not dominated by mega-corporations. It has been demonstrated time and again what happens when Wal-Mart moves into a geographic area and drives the mom-and-pop places out of business. Now, even the mom-and-pop luxury industries are in the crosshairs. If the stiletto-heeled ivory tower of higher fashion is not safe from Wal-Mart’s pervasive fingers, there is likely no protected industry left.

The very thought of Wal-Mart selling Fashion Week clothes would have been outlandish enough a few weeks ago that it could have been jokingly viewed as a sign of the end of the world. Now, as we wait for the fall fashions to be rolled out (and then promptly “rolled back”), it is not so funny. So run on down to your local Wal-Mart, pick up some Spam and an oversized belt, go home and hide under the covers — the big bad corporation may be coming for you next.