By Teresa Rivas

Everything old is new again when it comes to fashion, with Y2K styles on trend. Even Isaac Mizrahi is back at Target, and investors are hopeful that means the stock can recapture its glory days too.

On Monday, Target announced it was teaming up with designer Isaac Mizrahi once more, naming him its first creative director at large. The move marks the return of a key figure from the big box retailer's heyday in the early 2000s, when Target collaborated with a number of high-profile brands, bolstering its appeal and upscale bona fides (hence the French-inspired moniker Tarzhay).

Given the wide success of Mizrahi at Target, the company is likely hoping to catch that lightning in a bottle a second time around.

"It is difficult to quantify his impact but given Target's brand promise to 'delight busy families with discovery' while ensuring that each aisle in the store and app is distinctly Target, we see this as another step in the right direction especially in above-average margin categories whose importance transcends their direct contribution," writes Guggenheim analyst John Heinbockel.

Target is roughly flat in recent trading after it hit a new 52-week high Monday morning.

Given that the retailer has lagged behind in areas like fashion and home goods where it once dominated, the "partnership announcement further bolsters the brand's recent commitment to an elevated portfolio-wide product design process which should contribute to renewed top-line momentum in important discretionary categories," Heinbockel believes.

That momentum will be crucial when it comes to restoring Target's stock, which is down more than 40% over the past five years. Management itself sees the process as "a multi-year journey to rebuild" its merchandising prowess, by standing out from the crowd like it did before, writes Bernstein analyst Zhihan Ma on Monday, after meeting with Chief Executive Officer Michael Fiddelke and Chief Financial Officer Jim Lee last week.

She remains cautious, given the likely "trade-off between driving sales growth and preserving/growing margins, as additional investments are needed to stay ahead of competition, while ecommerce growth is likely to remain margin dilutive."

Yet investors are betting that its long period of underperformance is finally over.

The shares are up more than 38% since the start of the year, even as the State Street SPDR S&P Retail exchange-traded fund and the State Street Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF have trailed the broader market in 2026, amid worries about the health of the consumer. Although the shares initially sold off after its most recent earnings report in May, they've since rebounded double digits.

Target has a lot of ground to make up, but its working from a playbook that brought it plenty of success before.

Write to Teresa Rivas at teresa.rivas@barrons.com

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June 15, 2026 13:20 ET (17:20 GMT)

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