My Missoni for Target Story

If you heard about the Missoni for Target line and are a fan of the third generation Italian knitwear brand Missoni, then you must have either tried to get the items yourself, or heard about how quickly the collection sold out online, or how the site crashed. Here’s my personal play by play of how my purchases transpired, which involved the deployment of two additional people, two stores, a mobile phone, and constantly hitting the “refresh” button!

Timeline:

A few months ago: I went to the preview of the Missoni for Target collection; I was soo impressed with all of the items, from the clothing and shoes to the home decor that I knew I had to start saving my money for launch; I set September 13th in my Blackberry.

Fast forward to September 12th: I take a look at the lookbook, planning with stuff I really want. I also make a plan with my Mom for the next day, so that she knows which Targets might be the most strategic (i.e. have the most stuff) in the Pittsburgh area.  A few friends and I decide we will stay up until midnight tonight, to be the first to buy the collection!

September 13th- 1203am: It’s fashion week, and I am a bit crazed, but am writing and up anyways. I go to the website, and the collection isn’t up yet- rats!

September 13th- 1230am: Okay, the items still aren’t available for purchase; scratch that! I have an 8am call time for Tory Burch backstage, so I guess I will just get up SUPER early and buy the items!

September 13th- 7am: Success! I literally have everything that I want in my cart, minus the black suede pumps (will get Mom to get them in Pittsburgh for me)! hahaha! I am giddy with joy! I pick a few items in different sizes, as I’m not sure how they will run.

September 13th- 710am: Wait-what?!?! Just as Target.com is confirming my order the site crashes! Did my order go through? I paid with paypal, and I got a notice that they received the request, but no email confirmation from Target.

September 13th-735am: I’ve been trying to get through to the Target customer service number, which kept hanging up on me, all this time. I’ve been on hold, but have to run to the shows!

September 13th- 910am:Talk to my boyfriend, and let him know to keep the target.com window up on my computer and constantly refresh it and try to checkout. He keeps trying, and now there are 7 items in my cart instead of 11. Crashes on him just as he’s checking out!

September 13th-130pm: I hear that a ton of items are on eBay, at really jacked up prices already. Mom goes to the Target in our neighborhood, and the sales people said that there was a big rush of people waiting when the store opened, and everything was gone within an hour! Mom had  a helpful sales associate pull up inventory at other stores, and  is heading to another Target in the ‘burbs- wish her luck!

September 13th-230pm: At other Target, Mom has loaded up her cart with stuff and calls me to weed out what I don’t want (THANK YOU MOM!).  She gets me some small odds and ends, like picture frames, socks, tights, and wall tiles. She found the pumps but only in a 7.5, not my size of 7.

September 13th-3pm: Just got the message that he has been on it all day finally was able to have the purchase go through! I’m down to 5 items now! Here they are:

September 13th- 4pm: I see that now the arrival date for the items is the 19th, instead of the 17th from this morning. I guess Target didn’t anticipate the demand? Oh well! At least I got some items, and hopefully they will fit; I can’t wait to get them on Monday!

September 16th: I receive the following email:

Delayed OVER another week?!? Really?!? Ugh – way to build the anticipation, Target! This is annoying, since I made such a HUGE effort to be the first to get these items!

September 17th: Just got another item, that one of the items, the arm warmers, has shipped. Well, at least I may get one of the items sooner than later.