Target Teams Up With Levi’s For Exclusive Homeware And More

Target will launch a limited-time collection of home goods, pet accessories, clothing and other denim-inspired items with Levi Strauss & Co., which looks to build on its sales momentum during the coronavirus pandemic.

The new line of more than 100 items will be available in most big box stores and online from February 28. They range from glass tumblers for $ 3 each to a bar cart for $ 150, but most items cost less than $ 25.

For Levi’s, the expanded partnership is a way to strengthen ties with a booming retailer as apparel sales are down and its department store partners lost ground during the pandemic. Target, on the other hand, has attracted new customers and earned more from its business while keeping the doors open as a critical retailer. Its online offerings, such as curbside pickup, have also seen significant growth.

Shares of Target have risen 64% in the past year, bringing its market value to $ 93.93 billion. The company also reported a strong holiday season, with comparable sales up 17.2% and online sales more than doubling in November and December.

These gains raised a different kind of challenge for the big box retailer. It faces tough sales comparisons in the coming year and investors may wonder if its growth rate has peaked.

For Target, the limited-time collection is part of their playbook. She has a long history of using proprietary products to drive sales and create buzz. He has collaborated with other beloved fashion brands including Hunter and Lilly Pulitzer. He has also launched his own brands which have a following fan. These include Cat & Jack, a children’s clothing brand, and Hearth & Hand, a home goods brand created with Magnolia, the company of Chip and Joanna Gaines.

Typically, limited edition collections draw crowds in stores. This time around, Target is encouraging more shopping on its website. Target CEO Brian Cornell said employees will ensure that customers can socially distance in stores, including measuring the number inside if necessary.

The Levi’s collection is based on a growing relationship between companies. Target has been selling Levi’s value jeans brand, Denizen, for about a decade. About three years ago, Cornell reached out to Levi’s CEO Chip Bergh about adding Red Tab, his signature label, to Target. The retailer had discovered that the brand – typically found in mall stores like Macy’s – was the most popular demand for target shoppers.

In 2019, Target announced that some of its stores and website would start offering Red Tab. By fall 2021, Target plans to sell the Red Tab label in 500 of its nearly 1,900 locations. The displays of organized stores resemble a “store in store”.

Target has also worked with other companies to create destinations in its stores. It has Disney stores in 53 stores. Starting in the second half of this year, it will be opening Ulta Beauty stores in hundreds of them with an organized selection of products and employees trained as makeup and skin care advisors.

Companies began working on the collection before the pandemic, but many items – such as blankets, sleepwear, apron, and denim dog outfit – match the way Americans now live when they are cook, lounge and spend more time at home. with four-legged family members.

“It happens to marry a lot of the trends that happened during the pandemic, but it’s more of a coincidence than anything else,” Bergh said.

It also offers more items designed with sustainability in mind than any of Target’s other collaborations, with materials such as sustainable fabrics and recycled glass.

The two CEOs said they had their eyes on a favorite item in the collection – a denim-inspired Sherpa bed they plan to buy for their dogs.

“I’ll be on Target.com when this stuff drops,” Bergh said.