Walmart to sell plus-size apparel brand Eloquii to FullBeauty Brands

Walmart is selling its third e-tailer brand this year. The Bentonville-based retail giant is selling the online plus-size apparel brand Eloquii to FullBeauty Brands for an undisclosed figure.

Walmart continues to unwind the e-commerce strategy of Marc Lore, who ran the online business for Walmart from late 2016 to early 2021. Lore’s strategy to grow the online business included acquiring specialty brands in order to increase the higher-margin sales in the areas of apparel, outdoor and home.

Even before his exit, Walmart began to unwind that strategy focusing more on growing marketplace sales and expanding its proprietary brands in apparel and other higher margin categories.

Walmart paid $100 million for Eloquii in 2018. Since that time Walmart has launched its own plus-size women’s brand Terra & Sky. Specific terms of the Eloquii deal were not disclosed but FullBeauty said it will retain Julie Carnevale, co-founder of Eloquii. Eloquii is data-driven and fast to market, according to FullBeauty Brands CEO Jim Fogarty. He told the media the plan is for Eloquii to be an anchor in what he calls FullBeauty Brands’ “digital mall.”

The plus-size market is valued at $80 billion and FullBeauty Brands have garnered about $1 billion of that market share. Walmart, Target and Old Navy have each invested in plus-size apparel for women in recent years.

This divestiture comes on the heels of the sale of men’s apparel brand Bonobos for $75 million to Express Inc. and WHP Global. Walmart also sold outdoor brand Moosejaw to Dick’s Sporting Goods earlier this year. Walmart has also offloaded Modcloth, Bare Necessities, Art.com and ShoeBuy that were also Lore-led acquisitions. Walmart shuttered Jet.com and JetBlack in 2020, businesses founded by Lore. Walmart paid $3 billion for Jet.com in 2016.