Missoni for Target collection crashes store website
Designers Margherita Maccapani Missoni (L) and Angela Missoni (R) greet the guests lined up at the Missoni for Target Pop-up store at Target on September 8, 2011 in New York City.
Target's Missoni collection went on sale Tuesday, but many shoppers were shut out by massive demand for the Italian designer's capsule collection for the American clothing retailer.
Target's website crashed for several hours, and long lines at the retailer's stores meant that items from Missoni's 400-piece fashion line were soon unavailable, CBS News says.
"This was Missoni mayhem," Joshua Thomas, a Target spokesman, told CBS.
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Missoni is known for its luxury knitwear in bright zigzag patterns, and its Target collection — priced at a fraction of the usual cost — has sparked widespread interest, The New York Times says. Clothes from the famous label are selling from as little as $2.99, with most pieces costing under $40.
Many would-be shoppers were furious about being unable to access the Target website, or having their transactions cancelled, and Target was forced to issue an apology.
“Due to an overwhelming amount of traffic to Target.com as a result of the Missoni launch this morning, guests are unable to access the site,” Target said in a statement. “Providing a positive shopping experience to our guests is important to us and we are working to get the site back up as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
Lines formed outside Target stores in the United States, and especially at Manhattan's east Harlem store and the Brooklyn branch, which had empty shelves by late afternoon, the Guardian reports.
Target, sometimes affectionately known as "Tar-jay" to make it sound fancier, has previously teamed up with designers including Jean-Paul Gaultier and Alexander McQueen, who have similarly created lower-priced designs for Target stores. But the Missoni line for Target is the biggest limited designer collection with more than 400 items, and is only available from September 13 to October 22, the Guardian says.
When a Missoni for Target pop-up store opened in Manhattan last week, the clothes and accessories sold out in a night, The New York Times says.