**Bentonville, Arkansas**: Walmart has introduced Trend-to-Product, a generative AI tool that reduces fashion product development lead times from 24 weeks to just 6-8 weeks, enabling faster, trend-inspired design creation and improved supply chain flexibility amid changing trade dynamics.
Walmart has introduced an innovative generative AI tool designed to revolutionise fashion product development by significantly reducing lead times and enabling designers to create trend-inspired items with greater speed and efficiency. The proprietary technology, named Trend-to-Product, is set to transform the retailer’s approach to capturing fast-moving trends while maintaining affordability for its customers.
Headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, Walmart is the world’s largest retailer, and the new tool aims to address the challenges associated with scaling products for diverse markets. Trend-to-Product gathers and analyses data from a wide array of online trend sources to generate moodboards that feature suggested colours, textures, and design ideas drawn from current internet trends. This preparatory work allows Walmart’s designers to spend less time on trend research and more on applying their creative expertise.
Once designers modify and validate the AI-generated concepts using the company’s sell-through data, the final designs are submitted back to the tool, which then produces technical packs required by manufacturers to produce each fashion item. The company reports this integration of human creativity and AI assistance has enabled Walmart to reduce product development lead times drastically—from the usual 24 to 26 weeks down to just six to eight weeks.
Jen Jackson Brown, senior vice president of apparel brand and design for Walmart U.S., highlighted the benefits of the tool, saying: “Trend-to-Product empowers our private brand design and product development associates to spend less time chasing trends and more time doing what they love most—creating and delivering high quality, on-trend items for our customers for every season and occasion.” She added that the early results from the technology are promising and hold potential to transform Walmart’s operations and customer offerings.
The development of Trend-to-Product draws inspiration from a generative AI application in the chemical industry, where large language models were utilised to analyse and invent new chemicals. Walmart’s technology team adapted this concept for fashion, applying AI-driven data analysis to design and development processes within the company’s private brands.
Andrea Albright, executive vice president for Walmart sourcing, expressed enthusiasm for the technology’s initial success and suggested possibilities for expansion beyond fashion. She stated, “Imagine a future where Trend-to-Product helps designers create the next great lipstick colour or a new flavour combination that sets the internet on fire. That’s where we’re headed.” This points to Walmart’s broader ambition to employ AI in various product categories.
In addition to Trend-to-Product, Walmart already utilises artificial intelligence across numerous facets of its business, including natural language search for easier shopping experiences, review summarisation, product comparisons, inventory management, demand forecasting, and warehouse automation.
Vinod Bidarkoppa, executive vice president and chief technology officer for Walmart International, described Trend-to-Product as “the latest example of how these technologies drive optimisation, and when combined, can revolutionise an entire business line or industry.” He underscored Walmart’s ongoing commitment to cutting-edge AI and generative AI technologies, emphasising their role in making life simpler for customers and associates alike while keeping prices competitive.
Although the company did not directly link the new technology to the ongoing trade dynamics and tariffs impacting sourcing strategies, the accelerated production cycle enabled by Trend-to-Product could offer Walmart enhanced flexibility in managing its supply chain and diversifying sourcing from countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia amid fluctuations in import duties.
Walmart’s introduction of Trend-to-Product showcases the growing integration of AI-driven tools in retail design and product development, potentially reshaping how large-scale retailers respond to fast-paced fashion trends and deliver value to consumers.
Source: Noah Wire Services
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