Gap and Zara better watch their backs, because Target’s quickly becoming the go-to brand for jeans on TikTok. Last week, Tiana Peña, a 23-year-old Los Angeles-based TikToker with more than 45,000 followers, posted a video of herself in the Target dressing room, where she was trying on a pair of utility-style jeans from the brand’s beloved Wild Fable line. Superimposed over the video: “Damn, okay Target.” The pants, called Super High-Rise Utility Straight Jeans, feature all the traits that Gen Zers are looking for in denim right now, from the straight leg to the rugged light wash. Oh, and they only cost $25.
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“A couple weeks ago, it was my first day of work and I showed up wearing some old skinny jeans — the type you store deeply in the back of your closet — because I figured, whatever, it’s just work,” Peña tells Refinery29, noting that her job’s dress code restricts her from wearing ripped jeans, thus eliminating the other denim options in her wardrobe. (She’s currently working at a retail distribution center, where employees dress more for utility purposes than individual style.) The day was a disaster, she says, in part because she didn’t feel comfortable in what she was wearing. “I went out later that day — at 9 p.m. to be exact, when the only place open was Target — to buy a new pair.” Knowing that the store had good, cheap jeans, she says it seemed like a solid choice for a pair she planned on only wearing to work. “I looked around, saw those jeans, and was [instantly] amazed,” she says. “They made my waist look snatched!”
After a more successful second day on the job in her new denim — “I was feeling so cute,” she says — Peña knew what she had to do next: Share her find on TikTok.
In the 11 days since she posted her video, it has already garnered more than 71,000 likes and 816,000 views, elevating it to hallowed viral status. In the comments, hundreds of interested viewers have expressed their interest in buying the jeans, as well as their gratitude toward Peña for introducing the pair to them. “Omg they’re so bomb I loved them,” viewer Stephanie Connell wrote. Another, named Julie, wrote,” Sigh... *Opens the Target app.*”
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“Okay, I saved the video, you can take it down now,” wrote Kanami, an apparent advocate for TikTok gatekeeping. But so far, interested shoppers shouldn’t worry. Though in-store options do appear to be selling out quickly — within 50 miles of Manhattan, only five stores sell the jeans, and there are a mere eight pairs available across the shops — the online selection is available in every size from 00 to 18. Of course, with the rate Peña’s video is growing in popularity, that might not be the case for long.
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