Fashion
Target Is Launching A 'Stranger Things' Clothing Line & It Even Includes Dustin's Science Museum Hoodie
The kids from Stranger Things give off some major closet goals with their retro '80s looks, but while Lucas's bell bottoms and Will's striped shirts are pretty rad, one of Dustin's sweatshirts in particular stole the show last season. In the first episode of season two, Dustin goes to school wearing a purple Science Museum of Minnesota hoodie with a skeleton of a Brontosaurus on it, who's nicknamed "Thunder Lizard." Fans went absolutely and unexpectedly wild for it, and now Target is collaborating with the Science Museum of Minnesota to bring the sweatshirt to them en masse.
Costume designer Kim Wilcox found the '80s vintage sweatshirt online while looking for period inspiration for the show, and she thought it would have been a great look for Dustin in particular because of his interest in science. In her mind, it would have made total sense for him to have visited the St. Paul museum at one point, and bought himself a little something at the gift shop as a souvenir before going home.
"I really loved the Brontosaurus for Dustin, so we bought the original," she told Newsweek. "Then we made our own purple hoodie with this great dinosaur art in Gaten's size."
It caught the attention of fans watching the show, and they became obsessed with the idea of getting an item that an actual character got to wear on the series, and not just buying official slogan merch. Hoping the museum still sold the sweatshirt, tens of thousands of people went to check out their online gift shop and crashed their site — but the museum was game to keep up with demand.
They no longer sold the exact style since it was originally sold in the '80s, but they restocked to appease fans. And those bad boys flew — according to the Star Tribune, the museum sold 600 sweatshirts in just a couple of hours, making a whopping $400,000 in sales.
But even after months since the new season dropped, there's still a large demand for the retro hoodie — and that's where Target steps in. Wanting to help get the "Thunder Lizard" to as many fans as possible, they're releasing the hoodie in-stores at the end of February.
"We’ve teamed up with the museum — a beloved Minnesota institution that’s just minutes from our headquarters — to carry the original dino-stamped hoodie," Target shared. The unisex style will be available in sizes XS through XXL, but there's no info on how much it will cost just yet.
But the hoodie isn't the only thing you'll be able to snap up — Target is also teaming up with Netflix to release a whole Stranger Things collection so you can bring a little bit of Hawkins, Indiana to your wardrobe.
"Retro-styled and perfectly cozy, our collection of tops and hoodies are perfect for yourself or a fellow fan," Target shares.
Available in-stores and online at the end of February, there will be both a men's and women's line and they will feature tops, tees, and hoodies that range between $12.99-$24.99.
There's already hype online around the collection, where Twitter is excited to support the museum and help them raise funds for research and youth outreach (while getting some cool swag along the way.)
The great thing about this collab, though, is you don't have to wait until you visit St. Paul to get your own!
Others are pumped to expand their Stranger Things merch collection, especially since some have been wearing their pieces around the clock.
The release date for the merch is right around the corner, so with a little bit of patience you can restock your wardrobe with cool, new items, too.
