Fashionistas, are you ready? The clock is ticking down to what may be the the poshest moment in Target’s history.
Yes, we’re talking about Victoria Beckham for Target. The eagerly awaited designer collection is finally hitting stores on Sunday, and will be available through April 30, or until supplies last (considering the buzz around this line, expect stuff to sell out fast!).
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“Victoria Beckham for Target includes more than 200 items for women, girls, toddler and baby, and ranges in price from $6-$70, with most items under $40,” Amy Koch, a spokesperson for Target told NBC News. “It will be offered in sizes XS-3X for women and NB-XL for girls, toddler, and baby.”
Target has teamed up with a number of fashion brands in the past including Missoni, Alexander McQueen, Lily Pulitzer, and Marimekko. It’s a win-win for everyone, and a trendy concept.
“‘High-low’ collaborations between fashion icons and fast fashion stores are a huge deal lately,” said Benjamin Glaser, features editor with DealNews.
“Both sides get something: The celebrity or designer gets huge exposure and distribution, the store gets some of the celebrity’s upscale glamour, and consumers get designer flare at discount prices,” Glaser said. “Just look at the successful collaboration David Beckham (aka Mr. Victoria Beckham) has with H&M.”
Plus Sizes In Store: A First For Target Designer Collaboration
But Victoria Beckham for Target is special: it’s the first in Target’s history of such partnerships to make plus sizes so accessible.
“The big deal with this collection is that it is offering plus sizes in-store — a first ever for a Target designer collaboration,” said Kaarin Moore, a retail writer and co-host of the fashion podcast, Pop Fashion.
“The Lilly Pulitzer for Target collection in 2015 offered plus sizes, but you could only get them online,” noted Moore. “Altuzarra For Target didn’t offer extended sizes and people were ticked. That’s why they decided to offer plus sizes in Lilly, albeit all online. The Calypso St. Barth for Target collection also had some plus sizes available [only] online.”
Amanda Bar, a professor based in Stillwater, Oklahoma, has been a fan of Victoria Beckham since the Brit’s days as “Posh Spice” in the Spice Girls, and was thrilled to see plus-sized models featured in the online preview of the collection, and additionally learn that she could go in-store to try on the goods.
“I noticed in one ad a model who looked like my size (usually 3x), so I looked it up and found that they had my sizes in-store. I was shocked,” said Bar. “When I first heard about the line, I just assumed it excluded me.”
Bar wasn’t previously planning on it, but now thinks she may make the trip to a Target in Oklahoma City on Sunday.
Head Out Early, And Hit Up Multiple Stores
If you too are planning a trip to Target to get your hands on these clothes — which feature bold black and whites, elegant florals, scalloped skirts, and peter pan collars — get up early and consider yourself booked for the day. This could get intense.
“If you are a die-hard Victoria Beckham fan, you might have to sacrifice sleep in order to get what you want and get to Target very early in the morning,” said Moore. You should check online or call, but most Targets open at 8AM on Sunday.
If you can, make a day of it and hit up not just one but multiple Target stores.
“Head to a few stores in your area,” said Annette Harris, president and founder of the branding agency Show Up, who plans to show up at Target bright and early Sunday morning. “If this is anything like the past, there will be different pieces of the line at different stores.”
And if you don’t find your size the first time, try again later. The item of your desire may magically be back in stock in the coming weeks.
“People always buy a ton of pieces and then return the ones they don’t want to keep so it pays to check back in a couple of weeks,” said Harris.
Look Online, But Shop In-Store
While you can shop the collection on Target.com, online is not your best bet. The website could get glitchy or crash due to overwhelming traffic (this happened in spring 2015, with the Lilly Pulitzer for Target collection). Plus, there’s a five item per purchase limit online, but no limit in stores.
“Normally, we prefer online shopping to going in store for convenience and savings; but this situation is not normal,” said Glaser. “To actually get your hands on this merch, you’re better off lining up early with all those other fans, and accept that you’ll have to invest more time and still might walk away empty handed.”
Glaser also recommends that you follow Target on all their social media platforms, subscribe to their email lists, and download the Target Cartwheel App.
“The Cartwheel app often gives uses special deals, and while I doubt they will discount the VB line, the app might give you a push notification when the collection becomes available, and will definitely make checkout faster,” said Glaser.
Hit Or Miss, But Probably Hit
Could this all be a bunch of hype for a so-so reaction? It’s happened before.
“The Marimekko for Target collection had to be put on sale because the stuff was just hanging out after the initial rush to get the products,” said Moore. “The pattern that I’ve noticed: if it doesn’t sell out (or almost sell out) in the first 24-48 hours it is going to hang out on the racks and not move.”
But Victoria Beckham For Target will likely move — and fast.
“This one looks like it will be a huge hit,” said Glaser. “One of the biggest factors is price, and Target learned a hard lesson when it found out that people don’t want to pay $130 for a Target blazer, even when it does come from Thom Browne (who normally charges over $2,000 for one). But with nothing over $70 in the Victoria Beckham collection, that won’t be a problem.”
The line may especially please budget-conscious millennials and Gen-Xers, key demographics for Target and folks who may admire Beckham’s fashion lines, but haven’t been able to afford them.
“The millennial and Gen X women who grew up knowing Beckham as Posh Spice are now the number one purchasing demographic (and Target’s key consumer),” said Kelsey Cole, founder and president of Multivitamin Media. “Even Victoria Beckham’s ready to wear brand is at an unattainable price point for mass fashion, so this gives her the opportunity to sell in volume and cash in on all of the fans who can’t usually afford her. From a branding standpoint it’s genius.”
Brent Shelton, online shopping expert at FatWallet notes that another perk of this line lies in the smart timing.
“Its [styles] are very spring-ish, making it a very hot line to launch right before Easter,” said Shelton. “Consumers can grab up this trendy, but classy line for themselves and their children to wear it for the holiday.”
