Target’s viral partnerships with Roller Rabbit, Parke and Pokémon are driving sales and foot traffic

Earnings // May 20, 2026 Target’s viral partnerships with Roller Rabbit, Parke and Pokémon are driving sales and foot traffic By Mitchell Parton Target Target has a long history of collaborating with major brands and celebrities, from a partnership with architect Michael Graves in the ’90s to exclusive “Stranger Things” products last year.

As the company seeks to return to growth, it is pushing the gas pedal on exclusive or limited-time collections with popular brands. In March, it launched a limited-time collaboration with TikTok-favorite apparel brand Roller Rabbit, including a Target-exclusive print, mystery boxes and an exclusive women’s sleepwear set.

It partnered with viral apparel brand Parke on a collection of sweatshirts, swimwear and accessories in April. This month, it launched an exclusive collection with Pokémon to celebrate 30 years of the brand with apparel, accessories, home goods, food and beverage, and more. These collaborations are showing to be massively popular.

Target’s Roller Rabbit collection did $100,000 in sales per minute in the first hour it was available, according to Glossy. That’s about $6 million in an hour, or about 5,000 items per minute. The Parke partnership rode the popularity of a brand that grew from $100,000 in sales to about $16 million in three and a half years, according to Inc.

, calling it a “hit with the TikTok crowd.” In turn, Parke and Target’s partnership created crowds around stores, as captured in TikTok videos, Yahoo Life reported. Meanwhile, an Instagram video from influencer Noah Glenn Carter showed long lines around the store for the Pokémon launch, alleging that resellers were raiding the aisles.

“We’re celebrating the trends that shape culture to create buzzworthy assortments and experiences exclusive to Target,” Cara Sylvester, chief merchandising officer for Target, told investors on its first-quarter earnings call Wednesday.

“These partnerships show that when we combine great products with cultural relevance, we create moments that drive traffic, engagement and excitement for our brand.” These partnerships are key in Target’s strategy to drive traffic moving forward. Sylvester said the company is looking to do these more frequently.

“Not all of them have to be large, and some can be small, in drops,” she said. “What we’re looking at is consistency — those always-on, traffic-driving, buzzworthy moments — and I think Q1 is a great indication of what you can expect from us moving forward.”

Social engagement around Parke and Roller Rabbit significantly exceeded prior collaborations and saw some of the strongest launch-week sales ever for limited-time offerings, Sylvester said.

She added that the cross-category Pokémon collaboration this month set sales and social media engagement records for Target, with another Pokémon product drop set for next month. The company saw a 4. 4% increase in traffic this quarter from a year ago, Target CFO Jim Lee told investors on Wednesday.

The retailer also reported its first quarter of net sales growth after at least six quarters of year-over-year declines. Net sales grew 6. 7% from the first quarter of 2025 to the first quarter of 2026.

“I think I’ve had the pleasure of waking up to lines outside of Target stores before we opened three times so far this year, and they were around the unique drops we had with Roller Rabbit and Parke and Pokémon most recently,” Target CEO Michael Fiddelke said on the call with investors.

“That’s just an A1 example of when Target’s at our best, when we’re bringing style and design at a value that you can only find at Target, around brands our guests love.”