If you are a Target diehard — and really, who isn't? — and love scoping out a variety of unique brands, you may want to make a note in your calendar (do people even use calendars these days?) for this Sunday, March 15. That's when Target will launch Target Collective, a new program featuring six American-made men's brands, on its website.
Although the program will begin with men's brands, it won't necessarily be restricted to that demographic forever. Given Target's commitment to its various high-low mashups with apparel, jewelry, accessories, beauty, and home goods designers through the years, along with its groundbreaking Go International program, I am going to wager that this will be freakin' awesome, whatever direction it takes.
While the Christmas 2012 Neiman Marcus x Target mashup was largely considered a flop (even though I cop to owning several of the items that were offered, like the Brian Atwood gloves and the Marc Jacobs scarf) the retailer always rebounds when it comes to collaborating with innovative brands. It's one of the things they are most known for, at this point.
You can bet that I will be checking out the Target Collective launch, browsing the site for the dudes in my life, and bookmarking it for my future web travels.
Here's what we know, according to the WWD scoop.
1. Variety
There will be 90 items offered across six quality brands that are not instantly familiar to me on first view, including Billykirk, Owen & Fred, Taylor Stitch, Duluth Pack, Locally Grown, and Terrapin Stationers. They offer leather goods, gifts, clothes, and stationary, respectively.
2. High And Low
Price tags dip as low as $10 and rises as high as $270, which is actually a bit steep for the usual Target customer, since the Big Red Bullseye is a discount retailer! Even so, most of the items hover below $100.
3. Flexible And Exclusive
Kathee Tesija, an executive high up on the Target food chain, told WWD, "What excites me about this program is that we’ve curated a collective of brands we think our guests will love, and we had the chance to work with them to co-create products that will be exclusive to Target." She called Target Collective "an umbrella program," with "endless possibilities and could go in any number of directions."
Perhaps the next curated collection under the Target Collective umbrella will be female-focused. Or baby-focused. Or home-focused.
Whatever the case, I'll remain plugged in.
Images: Getty (3)
