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Anna Sui goes Mass Market?
By admins | May 30, 2009
image via chicintuition.com
We are all suckers for designers fashion on a budget, right? From H&M to Target, when stores feature high-end designers doing affordable capsule collections we are all ecstatic. So you can imagine how happy we were to hear that, our love, Anna Sui will be the second designer ever to participate in Target’s designer collaboration series. For this collection the designer must take inspiration from a “collaborative partner, muse or creative element.” For Anna Sui her inspiration will come from the female leads of Gossip Girl. “I have always been a fan of designer partnerships with mass retailers,” Sui told WWD exclusively. “I think it is a great way to bring fashion to everyone. I love Go International and was intrigued with Target’s new take on designer partnerships. It’s a fresh approach. I was able to select a muse or source of creative inspiration to focus the collection around. It is an exciting challenge to try and interpret my aesthetic into a mass-produced product with a specific inspirational source as the focus.”
We must admit, when we first heard this announcement we were all a bit shocked. While we love her creative and whimsical style, we especially admire her work on behalf of New York’s Garment Center. Anna Sui has been a strong voice for our neighborhood and a force behind the Save the Garment Center campaign. We have written extensively about our and Anna’s belief in domestic production. So when we first heard Anna Sui for Target we couldn’t help but wonder, where is production? Mass-market retailers like Walmart and Target do bulk production overseas in often questionable working conditions. For those of us who have worked on Target brands before, we are aware that despite their stringent regulations, production and sampling can be sub-sub-contracted out to rather shady factories under-the-radar in order to meet their price-point. We are very curious as to where Anna’s collection will be produced and have tried to contact her but have not heard back as of yet. We just hope our Garment Center guru has not sold out her principles and drank the mass-market kool-aid. If anybody can show mass marketers that it is possible to produce affordable clothing and still use factories with fair labor conditions it’s Anna!
One thing we do know for sure is the collaboration is sure to bring some fun and funky pieces to recessionistas across the country. Keep on the lookout, the collection is due in stores and online beginning September 13th.
Here is more related scoop;
Topics: designer, retail | 4 Comments » 
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May 30th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Yipee! More Anna Sui for me! I for one am glad she jumped on the Target bandwagon. Its doubtful that the line will be produced here, although if American Apparel can do it why not Target?
June 1st, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Don’t kid yourselves, everybody sells out for the right price!
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:29 pm
I am soooo excited about this!
June 5th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Can’t wait!! GG Inspired!