Missoni for Target vs. Missoni at Neiman Marcus

I have always had mixed feelings about designers doing lines for stores like Target, H&M, Kohls, etc. I understand that it is all business and the most creative designers on the planet who do not license out their name or do diffusion lines have a very small income. I also think that it is great that people who cannot pay designer prices can now get better merchandise. That being said, what does it do to the designer name and the real designer product?

This is particularly an issue for me with Missoni. Reason being, it so identifiable. The fact that Target’s website shut down due to the high traffic that Missoni created indicates that there is so much of it circulating out there. You run a high risk of being spotted next to somebody else in the exact same obvious thing when you go out. On the other end of the spectrum, those who own high end  Missoni and even M Missoni feel that their original piece is cheapened. I recently saw a rack of Missoni in Neiman’s for $1000 plus and thought to myslef, “Who is going to buy that?”.  People do not want to spend that much money to look like they shop at Target! Being a fashion addict, I actually know the difference in stitching –  patterns such as “The Flame” cannot even be produced for the price of M Missoni. But whatever. The average eye cannot tell the difference and does not care to. So what will become of high end, designer Missoni?