Big Celebs and Big Box Products

Click here to read this story in the November issue of Business Review USA!

Written by Nadia Ibanez

What’s with all of these major fashion and Hollywood celebrities offering up low-priced digs at big box retailers like Target, Walmart and Kmart? Martha Stewart was one of the first trailblazers to offer her own line of home and cleaning products at Kmart and model Kathy Ireland designed a line of women’s wear for Kmart back in the day. Then, busty Italian chef Giada de Laurentiis designed a product fleet of cooking utensils, pastas and sauces for Target. Fashion houses Isaac Mizrahi and Vera Wang have also jumped on the wagon and designed an affordable women’s collection for Target and Kohl’s respectively.

The Kardashian sisters brought their bootylicious style to Sears earlier this year to offer clothing, accessories, shoes and jewelry with their stamp of approval. And we can’t forget about the latest designer to come to Target, Missoni, whose first day of sales not only created a Black Friday-esque frenzy of soccer moms at local stores causing every single item to sell out, but also successfully broke Target’s online storefront while so many were trying to login.

Now, our new favorite Latina and “Modern Family” star Sofia Vergara has just unveiled a new clothing line at Kmart full of tight pants, short skirts and booty-hugging dresses – all of which made her famous on and off the TV screen. She tells reporters that she wears everything from her line and has worked with a number of fashion experts to get the collection to exactly where she wants it. She’s designed for the average woman, of all shapes and sizes. Finally.

Songstress Gwen Stefani has just announced a new Harajuku Mini collection for Target, which will be available November 13 in sizes 6 months to 16 years and ranging from $4 to $30. Stefani tells Women’s Wear Daily that she’s “always wanted to do a cool children’s fashion line inspired by the super cute and playful kid’s clothing you find in Japan.”

“Target has given me the creative freedom to design kids' clothing that is different than most anything you usually see out there with great quality, attention to detail and most of all, available at amazing prices,” she says.

So it seems like hitting up big box retailers is the way to go when it comes to getting through the recession. The masses already flock to these stores for normal household items, so why not bring affordable, luxury fashion there, too?