by Kristin Holloway
Opinions Editor

If you haven’t heard yet, colorful yet classic Southern resort brand Lilly Pulitzer collaborated with successful chain retailer Target in order to produce a limited-time-only affordable line that includes home goods in addition to accessories and clothes (including several of the infamous Lilly shift dresses in Target-exclusive patterns) and the results were wild. Target’s website nearly crashed and most brick-and-mortar stores sold out of the limited edition products within 10 minutes of opening Sunday, April 19. The line was pronounced “completely sold out” online by noon with Target also stating that they have no intention of restocking at this time, despite the demonstrated demand for more from the partnership between the shopping retailers.

However, it appears that not everyone participating in the event was a Lilly lover. Many shoppers shared pictures on social media of people stacking their carts high with the tropical themed merchandise (with obvious intent to resell for two to three times the marked price on auction sites like eBay), captioned with frustrated comments like “Seriously?” and “No words to describe this.” They have asked those who missed out on the items they wanted from the collection to not buy from these money-hungry, price-gouging resellers. And I have to agree; these eBayers took advantage of a fun event meant as a kickback for Lilly Pulitzer and Target fans alike.

Regular Lilly dresses run for about $150-200 whereas the Target collaboration dresses were almost all priced under $40, with the intent to make the popular luxury brand affordable to the average consumer, and potentially open up the Lilly market to new demographics in the process. But scalpers like these eBay resellers make the goals set by Target and Lilly Pulitzer difficult to achieve. As restricting as it is, imposing an item limit for future collaborations is the only way to combat this problem. Until then, shoppers will be left feeling dismayed over their lack of Lilly.