Portal4Fashion.com

Norma Kamali, a fashion designer known for innovative designs like her sleeping bag coat, her use of silk parachutes as fabric and fashion-sensibility take on jersey sportswear, will design a collection for Wal-Mart, in the latest mass merchant-meets-fashion designer collaboration.
 
The collection, to be produced via a licensing agreement with Cherokee Inc., Norma Kamali and Wal-Mart, will be offered in select Wal-Mart stores beginning in fall 2008.

Kamali is no stranger to partnerships with mass retailers, however ? in 2006 she joined forces with sportswear brand Everlast and Spiegel to bring her brand of multifunctional, mix-and-match style to a wider audience of women.

As with the collections she’s created for Everlast and Spiegel ? offered at lower price points than her namesake Norma Kamali Collection ? Kamali said in a phone interview on Wednesday, Feb. 27, that she will carry the Wal-Mart collection in her store on 56th Street in New York. (Currently, there are no Wal-Mart stores in Manhattan).

“It’s a great opportunity to do what I love to do,” said Kamali, which ultimately for her is to help women look and feel great through well-designed clothes.

“It’s solving the problem that women all have with self-esteem ? there are always a couple of days a month where we don’t feel so great,” she said.

In the case of her partnership with Wal-Mart, she’ll be able to offer a self-esteem boost for her biggest audience yet, specifically targeting style-conscious people on a budget ? students, for example, or women who have a family to take care of, she said.  Another nice move by the giant, Walmart.