COLLABORATION DEVASTATION: Lilly Pulitzer For Target Sold Out By Mid-Afternoon On The First Day
April 20, 2015
Some of us New Yorkers were wondering if Doyenne of Palm Beach Prep Chic Lilly Pulitzer's collaboration line with Target would hold the appeal of the ones that more glamorous designers had participated in. After all, here in the Northeast there has always been a following for Pulitzer's style, but how would it play in the flyover states where Target makes its money?
Well, neither we nor anyone else needed to wonder.
WWD was quick to update before the end of yesterday's launch day that the collection had almost completely sold out online and in stores after being available for less than 12 hours. Some stores sold out within minutes after hosting long early morning lines that hadn't been seen since the Missoni collaboration launch in 2011. This time, however, the store's e-commerce website did not crash, but was carefully monitored and managed to maintain functionality —even if it meant shutting it down for 15-minute periods for some kind of cyber-housecleaning to keep it humming.
Sadly, for those Lilly fans who were not quick enough to respond to the launch's first moments, there will be no replenishing of merchandise online or in stores. The best one can hope for is the occasional spot-check for goods that have been returned. There's always eBay, where the collaboration line appeared almost immediately marked up to premium prices, much to the chagrin of Target executives. As a Target spokesperson told WWD, “For us and the Lilly Pulitzer team, it’s disheartening because we want to give people a chance to experience something special and affordable.” Apparently there is no way to correctly estimate how much of these collaborations to produce so there is enough to linger in stores for at least a few days.
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