Target bills its latest brand, Prologue, as “trend-forward pieces and timeless essentials” for mixing and layering. The collection has lots of basics and a modern minimalist modern vibe. I do love a modern minimalist aesthetic, so I set out to take a look in person.

First, though, a confession: I have a Target habit and I’m trying to break it. I know that Target clothing is far from sustainable. It definitely falls under fast fashion. I’m on a budget though, so I can’t always spend money on an ethical brand. What’s a conscious consumer on a budget to do?

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I try to buy items made out of natural fibers instead of synthetics, shop secondhand, and shop less in the first place. Fashion is a wasteful industry. According to this HuffPost story about fashion brands destroying their unsold stock, consumers spend 60% more on clothes now than we did in 2000 — and get less wear out of them. Americans also throw out 70 pounds of textile per person each year. So, I try to make sure that I buy items I’ll get a lot of use out of. For example, earlier in the year, I bought this cotton shirt from Target’s Universal Thread line (review here). I’m happy to report that I wear it all the time.

I’ve also cut down on window shopping quite a bit. The problem with Target, though, is that I’m often there to pick up toothpaste or cleaning supplies and then, “Oh look at that cute dress.” Oops.

So there I was at Target.

The stock photos from Target made this collection look chic, but in person it just seemed cheap.

This tweed overcoat? Mostly made out of polyester with a small amount of wool. It’s scratchy feeling — a deal breaker.

This dress reminds me of something from COS, though at a much lower price.

In person, you can see it’s made out of flimsy polyester.

More wrinkly, cheap polyester — this time in the form of pants. The T-shirt is made out of Lyocell, a form of rayon that’s formed from dissolving bleached wood pulp. I guess that’s a better option than polyester, environmental-wise, as it’s not plastic.

This top seemed like it could be cute on, but it’s also made mostly out of polyester, so I didn’t try it on.

There’s just an awful lot of polyester in this collection, a fabric I’m avoiding because it’s basically plastic and won’t biodegrade. There’s also attempts at dressing up basics with details that I just find weird — such as the sleeves on this shirt.

Balloon sleeves abound in this collection. I’m not sure who they’d look good on.

Honestly, this shirt doesn’t even look good on the model.

There were only a few items that seemed decently made as well as made out of natural fibers.

This brown wrap skirt is mostly cotton (though it too has some polyester in it) and the fabric was of a decent weight. I love the earthy color.

These pants were 100% cotton. They have a high waist, pleats, and a cute tie at the waist. However, the tie could be tricky to style sometimes (and you can’t take it off; it’s attached.) They’re supposed to be ankle length, though on 5′ 4″ me, they are regular length. The fabric was a little on the thin side though. I passed since I already have these wide leg, high waist pants from Who What Wear (another Target brand) that fit well and seem more versatile. BTW, I went up a size in the tie front pants. They run snug.

A lot of the sweaters in this collection intrigued me with their shapes — like this dolman sleeve boatneck sweater — but I passed on them since most of them were made with acrylic (another synthetic I’m trying to avoid). The one exception was this cotton, wool blend sweater (mostly cotton), which is not on the website yet. But the sleeves were too long and the bat wing shape was not flattering on me.

All in all, this collection did not impress me. Made out of cheap fabrics, these pieces didn’t seem like they’d last long. I like the idea of an affordable minimalist line — it seems more fashion forward than Target’s usual offerings — but this collection is mostly a miss in execution.

P.S. How ethical is Target? Looks like they are taking it seriously. But they’re still a fast fashion retailer.

UPDATE 7/3/19 – On a recent Target run, I bought a Prologue dress. I was surprised to find it was made out of 100% cotton. Before buying it, I flipped it inside out to inspect the seams, and it seemed decently made. (There’s still quite a bit of synthetic fabric in the collection though.) So far, I love the dress and can see myself getting a lot of wear out of it. Moral of the story: shop carefully.