Hollister partners with Target to tap into $89 billion back-to-college shopping market

Abercrombie & Fitch‘s Hollister is branching out of its attire roots and partnering with Target to begin promoting residence and dorm decor for the primary time as each manufacturers look to new classes to drive progress. 

The collaboration, dubbed The Hollister Assortment at Target, will launch on-line, in most Target shops and choose Hollister places on June 28 and can function virtually 60 gadgets throughout males’s and ladies’s attire and bedding. 

Hollister’s tie-up with Target comes as each corporations contend with declines in discretionary spending and waning client confidence, which have pressured retailers to get artistic to entice consumers to spend. 

Hollister, Abercrombie’s model concentrating on consumers ages 13 to 22, has been comfortably rising for a lot of the previous 12 months however is wanting to develop into extra of a way of life model that sells greater than garments. By providing a wider assortment, particularly throughout a bigger footprint, Hollister can purchase new clients, encourage present consumers to spend extra and create a brand new pipeline for natural progress. 

Alternatively, Target already has a big residence and dorm decor division however has lengthy leaned on model collaborations as a aggressive differentiator, particularly as a result of they are not as widespread at rival Walmart. Throughout the enterprise, it has often introduced in buzzy names like Kendra Scott, Diane von Furstenberg, Bombas and Champion, even earlier than it was dealing with sluggish gross sales and shrinking earnings. 

For each corporations, the collaboration presents entry to the profitable back-to-college shopping market, which reached $88.8 billion final 12 months, or about $1,325 in spending per person who participates, in accordance to knowledge from the Nationwide Retail Federation. 

Inside that market, spending on dorm or residence furnishings has been steadily rising for greater than a decade. In 2025, it reached $12.8 billion, second solely to electronics or computer-related gear. 

Hollister’s growth into residence and dorm decor comes as sister model Abercrombie & Fitch expands into exterior footwear manufacturers like Puma, Sperry and Hunter as a way to drive progress. In interviews with CNBC, executives mentioned class growth throughout the enterprise can each attract new clients and entice present consumers to spend extra. 

With Target’s “brick-and-mortar presence, we must always have the opportunity to expose the Hollister model to individuals who aren’t shopping with us at the moment,” mentioned Corey Robinson, the corporate’s chief product officer, overseeing each the Abercrombie and Hollister manufacturers. “After which with these clients who love us a lot at the moment, to have the opportunity to be a good larger a part of their lives is one thing we’re wanting ahead to.” 

Below the phrases of the collaboration, Hollister and Target are working collectively to design the merchandise whereas Target, given its experience within the house, will deal with manufacturing, Robinson mentioned. The collaboration will final a minimum of by way of subsequent 12 months with drops anticipated in the course of the fall, vacation and spring 2027 shopping seasons. 

“Shifting past simply bedding and serious about blankets, wearable blankets, plush, that is how we’ll evolve the partnership,” Robinson mentioned. “With our goal age, dorm is prime of thoughts. From a seasonality perspective, there’s lots of methods you possibly can refresh your dorm, and embellish with newness primarily based on seasonality.”