Missoni for Target Madness

The new Missoni for Target line debuted today.  Normally I don’t go crazy for any of the ‘certain designer’ for Target lines, but as a Missoni fan, my curiosity got the best of me.  I went to check it out at my local suburban Seattle Target.

I got there around 9:30 am, and the parking lot was full.  The clerks said that they were huge lines before the store’s opening, like Black Friday.  I saw women wheeling out carts filled with Missoni luggage and pillows (the bright zigzags are hard to miss).  I walked in to find just a few clothing items left, but got to get a look at the quality of the line.  Disappointingly (but expected), the items are all made in China.  The few zigzag knitwear items that I saw were actually of surprisingly good quality, which is a relief because Missoni’s trademark is zigzag knitwear.  I was less impressed by the cotton pants and polyester blouses; they just looked cheap.

There were a lot of pushy, grabby, snobby women fighting over the remaining items.  Come on people, this is a Target in suburbia!  Nothing to be snobby about.  I overhead two women plotting against another shopper, “she’s the one who got the last piece of luggage!!!”   I think they were going to go grab it out of her cart by the sounds of it.

I went to look at the Missoni bicycle.  The one they had in the store was a black and white zigzag number.  It was kind of cool, but looked like a zebra.  I didn’t see anyone fighting over that.

It will remain to be seen what this will do for Missoni’s image in the fashion world.  Normally these ‘designer for whatever store’ lines don’t bode well for the designer, and cheapens the overall image of the line.  It’s a double-edged sword; you get lots of sales, but at what price?

While I felt a panicked urge to bolt from the store immediately, I did decide to buy one Missoni item for posterity.  A pair of purple zigzag socks for $6.00.  I have to say that they are really quite fabulous. 🙂

~Marilyn Huttunen