Many of you may know the brand Lilly Pulitzer; many of you may not; and even fewer may have known that the famous bright color, bold pattern, quintessential summertime attire was released at Target for a special collaboration line, this past Sunday, April 19. Even if you, yourself, personally went to Target this past Sunday you may not have known, because the complete line, everywhere, across the entire continental United States was completely sold out. Within minutes.

The deal was this: the renowned fashion label signed on to run a special collaboration line across the departments of apparel (men‘s, women’s, plus size, and kids), accessories, beauty, and home décor, for a total of 250 special edition items,  with major mark downs from their normal prices to typical Target customer price scales, set to premier April 19^th.

I, myself, being a large fan of the brand but chronically strapped for cash, was elated to find out I wouldn’t have to put out two hundred dollars to purchase a dress I wanted for graduation, and could purchase it for less than forty dollars.

However, my dreams we crushed – tragically.  I arrived to Target around eleven in the morning, only to discover Target employees heading skyward in cherry-pickers, removing the hanging signs and empty racks belonging to line. Nothing was left. Upon asking a very nice man with a sympathetic smile, where my cherished Lilly was, he informed me that everything, including little bottles of Lilly Pulitzer for Essie nail polish, were gone. Sold out within ten minutes of opening.

I returned home, upset. Now, I’m not the type of person to get upset over sold out clothes, normally, I couldn’t care less and would wait until everything was restocked. However, from the start this line was set to be a limited collection, with a production numbers set at a specific amount. My sadness was further aided along when I logged onto Twitter and heard what had actually gone down. After waiting hours in long lines looping around various Target parking lots across the country, well-paying customers were beaten out by the scum of the Earth. Some people – horrible people in my opinion – being the first into Target, loaded their carts with anything they could get their hands on, regardless of size and style, and proceeded to list these purchases on eBay, Amazon, and even Instagram at triple, and even quadruple the listed Target price.

I was appalled. I understand this is a risk we as a nation must take through our system of free-market capitalism, but seriously? This line was made for those who can’t afford the typical two to three hundred dollar Lilly dress from the brand itself, and those who just purchased these out of other people’s hands are the lowest of the low.  What’s even more unfortunate is that people, the same people that waited in line for hours only to see empty racks, are purchasing the items from these re-sellers at the new ridiculously excessive prices, buying into this horrible little consumerist ploy.

I for one, will not be purchasing from Target or Lilly for a while, as I believe they should have had safeguards in place to protect their “loyal customers,” and will try and find my graduation dress elsewhere.