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Totally sold out of evry Target store.. but do you think that she sold out in the sense that she is no longer an 'exclusive' designer. what drove her to sell her clothes at target, was she desperate? target hasn't exactly got the best reputation for desginer clothes, or any clothes for that matter.. do you think that people buying her normal priced clothing will now think twice? i have always been a fan of Stella McCartney and i would definately still buy her pieces however i do wonder, why target? why not Myer, or David Jones? do you think she will be producing more clothes for them?

discuss :)

Jean-Jaques Picart would tell you it's effectively a marketing exercise for Stella. And of course, it is.

Does it damage her reputation?

Yes. But not to the same degree that fake Stella clothes would. And frankly, when the fakes cost as much as Target she might as well get the money herself by doing a budget line.

From a designers perspective.... is she selling out, maybe, but not as much as it seems. By designing a budget line for Target she's expanding her brand awareness, and getting her name out there more. You may think it would hurt her reputation as an 'exclusive' designer, but it doesn't hurt her as much as you'd think. Her customers that would buy and wear her ready-to-wear line are not the same customers as would shop for her at Target. In that sense, she's hitting 2 different market segments, with is great for her brand. Her high-end customers know the difference between her budget (for target) line and the quality products they buy, so it shouldn't really hurt her reputation in that sense. Also, by chosing to release the collection in Australia, rather than in the US, or worldwide, she's keeping a more exclusive edge and creating a greater demand for her product. By only offering it as a one-time deal, like she did with H&M, she's also creating a high demand. If she continued to design a Target collection for a few seasons, or became a "Target designer", like Izach Mizrahi, then she would be in big trouble as far as keeping her high-end 'exclusive' reputation. This is a one-time, quick shot collection that's going to make her a lot of money (mass merchandising is a much bigger profit builder than ready-to-wear) and she will be able to go back to concentrating on her high end RTW line, with out the same financial strain.

I think that its a good question and one that could go both ways...on one hand i've never seen clothes go more quickly off the rack, but at what price? Then again, anything that makes grown ladies act like sea gulls must be a succesful scheme...

The clothes she designs for Target are different than her collection, though in a similar style and therefore those who are Stella fans will not think twice about buying the 2500$ suit, because they know it's better.

Either way, she probably made $2,000,000 plus (usd) for it.

I think it was a great marketing exercise, but she's really really keeping herself busy with all these collaborations.

I almost died trying to get some of those clothes...I don't think it should be like that i mean they are just clothes...

did you get any any clothes steph?

daniel, i dont think fakes would be made of her clothes as she doesnt plaster her label all over them like christain diro, louis vuitton etc

I'm using the term fake more broadly here, you can find fakes at high street stores which are just complete rip-offs of what high-end designers are doing.

Jaspar Conran, one of the first designers to have a low-end range (he did it in the 80s), relates a story where he decided to create his low-end range simply because a high-street store was ripping off everything he did (including the mistakes).

ripping off like that happens everywhere. Apparently Bettina Liano sued Dotti over copying, and in melbourne Last Gasp was in trouble for copying somebody elses designs as well. and lets not forget levi's suing everybody!