But the pull of its earliest iteration remains an appealing and accessible way into the franchise for nostalgic and new fans alike. That’s why it served as the inspiration for an officially licensed limited-time collection from Target. The collection, unveiled Wednesday, is the only U.S. retailer collaboration with Pok\u00e9mon for the brand\u2019s 30th anniversary, and launches initially in May. <\/p>\n
The collection could help bring fans into stores as the retailer looks to improve its sales, which were down 1.7% year-over-year in 2025 on a net basis and 2.6% on a comparable-store basis. <\/p>\n
The Pok\u00e9mon x Target collection features more than 100 unique pieces of merchandise, from apparel and home goods to tech accessories and bags. From the collection\u2019s conception, Target has been centering the franchise\u2019s diehard fans\u2014from its own vice president of marketing to superstar singer Joe Jonas, who\u2019s the face of the collection.<\/p>\n Even with more than 100 items, Target’s Pok\u00e9mon collection barely scratches the surface of the franchise’s universe. Distilling 30 years into one collection was the challenge faced by Gigi Guerra, Target\u2019s vice president of marketing, who brought her perspective as a diehard fan to the process.<\/p>\n To pare down the Pok\u00e9dex, Target chose to lean into the occasion for the collection and looked to where it all began, basing all of its new products on Pok\u00e9mon from the original Pok\u00e9mon Red<\/em> and Blue<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you took a time machine back to 1996, what would be there?\u201d Guerra says she and her team asked themselves. \u201cAnd it was the Kanto region. It was the original 151.\u201d<\/p>\n The products and their accompanying campaign lean into the era\u2019s aesthetic, too. The red, blue, and yellow color scheme that defined the first Pok\u00e9mon generation is all over the collection, along with holographic packaging details reminiscent of holofoil Pok\u00e9mon cards.<\/p>\n That \u201890s nostalgia extends to the other brands Target got involved in the collaboration, many of which immediately evoke the aesthetics of the era. There\u2019s a Trapper Keeper designed to hold Pok\u00e9mon cards, a Caboodle tailor-made for other Pok\u00e9mon merchandise, and a Starter jacket representing the Kanto region. \u201cThat\u2019s going to be an instant collector’s item,\u201d Guerra says of the jacket, noting easter eggs like Pok\u00e9mon symbols on the inside of the pocket. <\/p>\n Pok\u00e9mon x Target will release in two drops, with the first in-store on May 2 and online on May 3. The rest of the collection will release in June. Guerra says she hopes the collection connects with Pok\u00e9mon fans, no matter how or when they got into the franchise.<\/p>\n \u201cPok\u00e9mon connects people from all over,\u201d Guerra says. \u201cNo matter where you started Pok\u00e9mon or how old you are, everyone knows and loves that first-gen nostalgia.”<\/p>\n And though the collection can appeal to new fans, it’s especially made to satisfy longtime fandom fanatics\u2014and was made with their input. <\/p>\n On paper, Target and Pok\u00e9mon make the perfect collaborators. Target says that 1 in 18 of its shoppers buy Pok\u00e9mon in some capacity. But marketing a collection to a specific fandom, even one as massive as Pok\u00e9mon, is a tightrope walk: If a brand\u2019s investment in the community feels surface-level, it can quickly be written off as pandering and decried by the very audience it\u2019s trying to reach.<\/p>\n \u201cThe problem with that is fandom, by its very nature, isn’t just a number,\u201d creator economy analyst and anime expert Ben Woods says. \u201cIt has its own nuances. It has its own in-jokes. It has its own key figureheads and celebrated characters.\u201d<\/p>\n From the outset of this effort, Target worked to avoid this pitfall by letting genuine Pok\u00e9mon fans steer the collection. It didn\u2019t have to look far to find them. <\/p>\n Guerra herself is the biggest fan in her family, even though she got into the world by picking up Pok\u00e9mon Go to connect with her kids. She even attends annual Pok\u00e9mon conventions in cosplay, including dressing as her favorite Pok\u00e9mon, fairy-type Eeveelution Sylveon.<\/p>\n The rest of the team, around 20 Target employees who offered input, came together like a game of telephone at HQ. \u201cEveryone knew of someone that was a Pok\u00e9mon fan,\u201d Guerra says. \u201cIt was almost like we had this internal sounding board and filter for everything in how we’re picking products, picking colors, picking Pok\u00e9mon.\u201d<\/p>\n That insider perspective led to countless \u201cif you know, you know\u201d details throughout the collection, she says, from blind-box water bottles featuring beloved water-type Pok\u00e9mon to puzzles with 151 pieces. <\/p>\n That fandom is also reflected in how Guerra is marketing the collection. Poster boy Joe Jonas is a lifelong fan of the franchise known for his unboxing livestreams of Pok\u00e9mon cards (he has a tattoo of mythical Pok\u00e9mon Mew, No. 150 of the original 151). \u201cHe’s been a fan since he was a kid, so for him, it was like a real full-circle moment,\u201d Guerra says, teasing forthcoming Pokemon content from the pop star.<\/p>\n The collection\u2019s campaign also features superfans<\/a>, with Pok\u00e9mon influencers including Sydeon<\/a>, PhillyBeatzU<\/a> and Stephosaurawr and Aspen<\/a> modeling products like Butterfree-shaped hair clips, Magikarp tank tops, and kickballs patterned like Pok\u00e9balls.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be able to do a Pok\u00e9mon collaboration\u2014I’ve worked at Target for more than a decade,\u201d Guerra says. \u201cI’ve been waiting for this day for years.\u201d<\/p>\nA time machine to the \u201890s<\/h2>\n
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For fans, by fans<\/h2>\n
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