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Walmart has introduced Weekend Academy, a budget-conscious collection aimed at the often-fickle tween customer.
Walmart said in a press release, “The assortment was designed with today’s tweens in mind, offering on-trend styles they crave at prices their parents will love — including most items available for under $15, with many priced at less than $10.”
Walmart’s other labels for tweens included options from Reebok, Celebrity Pink, and U.S. Polo Assn. as well as its private-label Wonder Nation kids brand.
Walmart also has an exclusive license for Justice, which was once the leading brand for girls between the ages of 6 and 12 with more than 1,000 stores. In 2020, Justice liquidated all its locations in bankruptcy proceedings.
Following Justice’s collapse, Old Navy, The Children’s Place, Maurices, Victoria’s Secret and Francesca’s all launched tween brands.
However, Justice’s bankruptcy pointed to the ongoing challenges serving the tween market, including the long-term decline in birth rates that also contributed to the closure of Limited Too, Justice’s predecessor, and Delia’s, a tween catalog. The low birth rates were also a factor in a string of bankruptcies by teen chains.
Tweens Present a Marketing Challenge to Traditional Retailers
Another challenge for those targeting tweens with fashion is adjusting to social media’s impact as tweens face an onslaught of influencers hawking trendy, upscale brands.
Jaclyn Peiser, retail reporter for The Washington Post, wrote last year, “The constant push of products by influencers or their peers on their screens blurs the line between luxury and necessity, and suddenly that $50 intensive hydration serum, $300 gaming chair or pair of $160 Ultra Mini Platform Uggs is easy to justify.”
A Teen Vogue article from 2023 questioned whether pre-teen fashion would “eventually die out” with TikTok trends — from Cottagecore to Barbiecore and Gothcore — causing tweens to not only aspire to shop at teen-focused chains like Brandy Melville and Princess Polly, but also those catering to college-age-plus adults, such as H&M and Zara.
Trend forecaster Katherine Irving told Teen Vogue: “The teen market, in general, is such a tough transitional phase for kids, and stores are still finding it hard to navigate. The other thing is that customers are moving in and out quickly through the tween range that you're constantly doing customer acquisition, so it's just a little bit of a tricky area in the market.”
Despite the Hype, Some Tweens Appear to Desire a Personalized Style: Can Walmart Deliver?
A recent Wall Street Journal article, highlighting tweens and their moms designing age-appropriate fashions, still indicated that some tweens want their own style.
The WSJ article stated, “What do tween girls want? Not necessarily what the big brands are selling. Stuck in those in-between ages of 8 and 12, tween girls are looking for something more mature than the kids clothes they used to buy but not so grown-up as the looks being shilled on Instagram in ‘haul’ videos, where influencers show off large quantities of clothing from their shopping sprees. The looks these days are often skimpy tank tops, corsets, and baby doll dresses—a far cry from the sweeter looks being sold at brands geared toward children their size.”