It all started back in 2006 when Target stores announced they would start to carry a GO International line of clothes featuring hip upcoming designers. English designer Luella Bartley was the first, and down the line, bigger designers were featured such as the surf punk boys of “Proenza Schouler” and sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy behind goth brand, “Rodarte”. As the clothing lines got better with beautiful dresses, shirts, and accessories, other stores realized that they too should collaborate with famous celebrities and designers to amp up sales and customer satisfaction.

The next store that is doing collaborations even bigger than Target, is Swedish store H&M. When H&M announced last year that they would carry a line of Lanvin clothes exclusively and for a limited time, all hell broke loose as everyone was trying to get their hands on a Lanvin dress. This year Donatella Versace said yes to do a line of clothes for H&M that hit stores on November 19. She took inspiration from many of Versace’s 1990’s runway looks and redefined the pieces to make them up-to-date with lime green shift dressed and playful pink hearts, making every piece quirky and cute.

Now that the retail industry is discovering this secret weapon to attract more customers, other stores like JCPenney are jumping on the bandwagon. English brand Mango is doing a less expensive line titled “MNG” and continuing with their most sold line “Olsenboye” by Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. So with all the unique collaborations stores are doing, the question is; is buying diffusion lines made by high-end designers for a fraction of a price, compared to their own clothes at stores like Target or H&M, really worth it?

There are two ways to look at it; you get beautiful, unique clothes by your favorite designers you thought you could never afford for $30-$90 and the middle-class finally get to feel fashionable, but then the cons to all these diffusion lines, is that everything is $30-$90 which is still expensive to those who have normal jobs. And since everyone wants the clothes, those fortunate enough to afford them turn around and raise the price to 10 times more than the original, on eBay. Diffusion lines at Target and H&M are a good tactic for people to get name brand clothes, but when people buy the day of the collection’s debut, there are hardly any left by the end of the day, and it becomes out of control. Stores should continue to carry these types of lines because it makes the public feel like nice clothing is not an “exclusive” thing and only for the rich, but when it is turned around and sold online, there should be a monitor to how that should be handled.