Empty racks. A daylong website crash. The trending topic that won't die.
Missoni for Target, a designer collaboration between the venerated luxury Italian brand of clothing and accessories and the popular retailer, brought fashion armageddon to cities nationwide on Tuesday.
Consumers late to the party -- which in this case was anytime after 9:30 a.m. -- lamented the lack of trademark zigzag-covered knitwear in their lives. Target representatives were vague about when or if additional items would become available.
"We knew coming into it there was a tremendous amount of buzz," Dustee Jenkins, a spokeswoman for Target, said Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show. Inventory, she said, was ordered based on previous collections and would continue to trickle into stores. Naturally, Jenkins encouraged shoppers to check stores early and often.
On Wednesday, Target.com was back up, but most items, particularly women's apparel, remained out of stock. The collection, Target's largest to date with 400 items ranging from women's apparel to bicycles, is priced from $2.99 to $500 and was scheduled to be in stores until Oct. 22.
Less popular items, which could still be spotted late Tuesday on shelves at metro area Target stores, included a green corduroy coat, a blue puffer coat with zigzag print and a floral print blouse. Some stores also had a reasonable amount of children's apparel and bed linens remaining.
Kristen Delaney wasn't specifically looking for Missoni goods on Tuesday at Target in Atlantic Station, but when she arrived at 8:25 a.m. she was drawn to the massive crowd. "I couldn't believe the racks were empty," said Delaney, director of marketing and public relations for the Fox Theatre. Women, she said, were both hoarding and trading with one another in the checkout lines.
Intrigued, Delaney monitored the phenomenon throughout the day. By noon, she had spotted 1,400 Missoni for Target items on eBay, including a $49 sweater dress priced at $160 and the bicycle, $400 online, selling for $1,000. She also noticed Target's stock price was up 2 percent by the end of the day Tuesday.
"It was ridiculous," Delaney said, "but it was a fascinating human experience."
