Transgender designer Erik Carnell was commissioned to create some of Target’s 2023 Pride items, which were pulled from shelves this week amid right-wing backlash. In response, buyers have been flooding to Carnell’s website and Etsy store to support his collection. “Your support during this extremely difficult time means more than I can express,” Carnell wrote on his Etsy page, adding that he had to stop taking new orders due to the spike in volume on his sites. The U.K.-based designer told PinkNews that the collaboration with Target started about a year ago. “I designed a bunch of items, put together a pitch, and we ended up getting a handful of those designs manufactured into pins and bags and tanks tops and a sweatshirt,” he said. But after bigoted threats from anti-LGBTQ+ activists, Target decided to pull Carnell’s merch. “I think it was anticipated that there would be pushback, I don’t think anybody anticipated that it would be quite this extreme,” Carnell said.
