Dear Target,
Last night I went to your store to buy some Christmas gifts. I think you're great, Target, and I'm really excited that you now carry more organic food products, which give me great soup options for lunch! Your greeting card and nail polish selections also rock. But let's talk about clothing, specifically graphic tees, because last night you let me down, Target.
I admit, I love brand names and fancy labels, but when it comes to basics, you are my go-to. I was beyond excited when I ventured over to the men's section of the store and saw graphic tees sporting all kinds of rad licensed characters and logos. There were Avengers, Star Wars, Batman, NASA, Mustang, Coke, Jurassic Park, Star Trek, Nirvana, Iron Man... the list goes on. My little nerd heart nearly exploded as I tried to figure out which ones to get for my dad and my boyfriend. Target, bless you. I'm convinced there isn't a guy out there who couldn't find a tee he didn't love in this collection of nerdy awesomeness.
I could barely contain myself because I thought my group of girlfriends who geek out on this kind of stuff too would be so thrilled. These tees would also make really fabulous gifts for them!
So I headed over to the women's section of the store where I was confronted with the taste of bitter disappointment. The display of graphic tees included Beauty & the Beast, Mickey Mouse, red sparkly lips, a kitten tee with some lame saying and a bunch of others with team numbers on them. Um... seriously? I thought, "Maybe this is a fluke and all the kickass nerdy tees for women are on the website instead of in the stores." I immediately got on my phone to see if there are more tees available online.
On your webpage, Target, the first three graphic tees that show up for women are Santa, a gray sweatshirt with hearts and a blue shirt that says "Shopping is my cardio." What the heck, Target? Is this a joke? As I scrolled down the page, there were two shirts with the Superman logo and one with the Captain America logo. All the rest of the tees consisted of Disney graphics, bows, lips, hearts, or kittens, with the exception of two ugly band logos (I've never seen anyone wear a Def Leppard shirt and I work in the music industry).
The men's graphic tee section on target.com has five pages of really awesome logos people actually want to wear. There is even a Hogwarts shirt for fellow Harry Potter nerds! The women's section has two pages of tepid, lame, gender-specific bubble gum that I'm just not interested in. I am so bummed.
About eight years ago, I bought a Star Wars shirt in your store. I wore that thing until it had holes in it and I never saw another Star Wars shirt for women in a Target store again. Now, I get that maybe I don't represent the female demographic you're going for, but I'm 32, not 74, and I like to think I know how to dress in a fun, cool way for my age.
I think your men's tees are awesome, so why can't women's tees be equally awesome?! Don't get me wrong. I'm not anti-Disney princess, I actually love them, but s a grown woman, I'd prefer not to wear Belle and the Beast on my chest, you know? I'm telling you, Target, I am not alone in this. I can think of a dozen women off the top of my head who would totally buy some better graphic tees with characters like Wonder Woman, Princess Leia, Catwoman and old school pics of Jane Austen or Virginia Woolf, or vintage book covers of Pride & Prejudice or Jane Eyre. And it might surprise you to know that some girls also love Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Avengers, rock bands and cars too!
There have been several stories in the news lately of girls who want better toys that aren't so gender-specific. And I guess to continue on that theme, I'd really like to see this represented in the women's clothing department at Target. Can you please include some awesome tees that showcase strong women instead of princesses, and kickass logos instead of sparkly lips?
Most Sincerely,
Leah LaRocco
