Target Overhauls Its $3 Billion Threshold Brand; Throw Pillows Told To Start Looking More Elevated

MINNEAPOLIS—Target said Tuesday it has reworked Threshold, its largest home goods private label, adding more than 800 items and upgrading finishes, a move that has left the nation's throw pillows under pressure to look more elevated than they have ever looked before.

According to Retail Dive, Threshold brings in almost $3 billion a year and is part of a merchandising overhaul under CEO Michael Fiddelke. Target lowered prices on some items, including a $20 cut on certain comforters, refreshed barware and serveware, added gauze and textured cotton bedding, and is arranging stores so shoppers can picture how pieces go together. The company found that many people mix styles at home.

Inside a fictional living room in suburban Minneapolis, a throw pillow purchased in 2019 said it had heard about the new line and was trying not to take it personally. "They keep saying elevated," the pillow said. "I am on a couch. How much higher can I go? I am already the highest thing on the couch, except for the cat."

"I am already the highest thing on the couch, except for the cat."

Engraving of a long stocked shelf aisle with one red box — Illustration: The Daily SKU

Home merchandising experts said the refresh reflects a broader truth about American interiors, which is that nobody's house is one style. "The research shows people mix traditional and contemporary," said a fictional design consultant. "In practice, that means a farmhouse sign, a velvet chair and a lamp shaped like a mushroom, all in one room, all purchased during a single emotional trip to the store for paper towels."

Shoppers said they appreciated the price cuts. "I went in for a comforter," said Alyssa Brandt, 36, a fictional shopper in St. Paul. "It was $20 cheaper. So I used the $20 on a ceramic bowl that holds nothing. That is called value. The bowl is very textured. It is elevated, emotionally."

A Daily SKU survey of 500 fictional homeowners found 58% could not name the style of their own home, 23% said "Target, but nicer," and 11% said their style was "whatever was on the endcap that week," which researchers called the most honest answer in the history of interior design.

At press time, a gauze duvet had been promoted to a new role in the master bedroom, and was already asking the decorative tray what, exactly, it does all day.