--- title: How Target Helps Creators Build Brands That Last description: At TIME100 Creators, Target shows how partnerships with Kahlana Barfield Brown and other founders help creator-led brands grow. canonical: https://time.com/branded-content/target/how-target-backs-growing-brands/ article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-08-11T16:19:24.808Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-11T16:17:05.929Z og:title: How Target Helps Creators Build Brands That Last og:description: At TIME100 Creators, Target shows how partnerships with Kahlana Barfield Brown and other founders help creator-led brands grow. og:url: https://time.com/branded-content/target/how-target-backs-growing-brands/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34e98d4797c7d49d/6a74a013bf22b266669513c9/IMG_6321_1200x627.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 627 og:image:alt: IMG_6321_1200x627.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Target Helps Creators Build Brands That Last twitter:description: At TIME100 Creators, Target shows how partnerships with Kahlana Barfield Brown and other founders help creator-led brands grow. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34e98d4797c7d49d/6a74a013bf22b266669513c9/IMG_6321_1200x627.jpg?branch=production --- # How Target Backs Growing Brands, from TIME100 Creators to Kahlana Barfield Brown ## Video: TIME100 Creators 2026 Target [Watch (HLS stream): TIME100 Creators 2026 Target](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/AYUAecYl.m3u8) (1:09)  _Published 2026-08-11. TIME100 Creators Target_ This year marked the second annual TIME100 Creators, TIME's yearly list recognizing the 100 most influential digital voices shaping culture. For 2026, Target stepped in as the event's Design Partner for the first time, following its success with TIME100 Sports earlier this summer. “Target has always believed great design should be accessible, and small business founders and creators are helping bring that promise to life in more personal, relevant and inspiring ways,” says Pamela Brown, Target's Head of Talent Partnerships and Experiential Marketing. To find a clear example of that model in action, look no further than one of this year's TIME100 Creators honorees: Kahlana Barfield Brown. ### **It Started With a Shared Eye for Style** Long before there was a collection, Kahlana Barfield Brown was building a career on knowing what people wanted to wear and how they wanted to feel wearing it. She started as an intern at InStyle, working her way up to Beauty Director before stepping fully into fashion with a point of view that's sartorial, streetwear-inspired and unmistakably hers. It was in that world, not yet as a designer, that she first crossed paths with Target. In 2019, Brown and Barfield Brown met at a beauty summit Target hosted at its headquarters. “That was the moment I tell everybody: what started as an industry introduction turned into something much more important,” Brown says. For Barfield Brown, the connection was instant. “Target was always my dream brand to work with,” she says. “As an editor, I wrote about their collaborations. To be able to actually partner with them was a dream come true.”  ### **From Guest Designer to Namesake Brand** That relationship became a working one in 2022, when Barfield Brown joined the first cohort of guest designers for Future Collective, Target's rotating capsule concept spotlighting cultural and style influencers. Her collection and personality struck such a chord that Target stepped outside the original playbook: instead of moving on to the next guest designer, they built something even bigger with her. In fall 2025, KBB by Kahlana launched as her own full, eponymous brand exclusive to Target. The style-forward, affordable and size-inclusive fashions were shaped in large part by the community she engages with on social media, the same people she's long treated as collaborators instead of followers. As Brown puts it, “Kahlana Barfield Brown represents what is possible when Target combines great design, founder vision and creator connection to build a brand guests love.”  Kahlana Barfield Brown and Pamela Brown at TIME100 Creators Event in NYC ### **A Collaboration That Lasts Beyond the First Drop** Barfield Brown's path from guest designer to full brand is one version of how Target builds with creators, but it isn't the only one. Target has a long history of helping founder-led brands grow into household names. Harry's, The Lip Bar, Native and Poppi all built their national footprint in part through Target's shelves, while local favorites like Blanchard's, My Better Batch and Seven Sundays found broader audiences the same way. That same philosophy shows up in how Target evaluates new partners. “When we're looking for creators, we're looking for people with a personal style, an expression that's their own,” Brown says. “That's why we partnered with Kahlana to begin with, and it's why our philosophy has always been to work with creators, not reshape them.” That approach also shows up in the programs Target has built specifically for creators. Target Accelerators offers emerging brands education, mentorship and access to industry expertise as they scale. Club Target, a gamified program built around authentic participation rather than follower count, has grown from roughly 8,000 active creators to more than 15,000 since it launched in May. And Target Ambassadors, powered by LTK, gives established creators a streamlined way to work with Target directly, on platforms where they already do business. The result shows up in the numbers: Target is the most-followed big-box retailer on TikTok, mentioned tens of thousands of times a day in user-generated content.  ### **Setting the Stage for TIME100 Creators** That same relationship-building instinct now shows up institutionally too. As Design Partner for the second annual TIME100 Creators, Target wasn't just decorating the room. They were creating a memorable experience to celebrate the designers, storytellers and creators who've turned a following into a full career. The event honored 100 of the most influential digital voices working today, spanning fashion, comedy, gaming and activism. For Target, showing up as Design Partner meant putting its own philosophy on creator partnerships into practice one more time, at scale, in a room full of exactly the kind of talent it's built a business around backing. “It means a lot to be here. We love our creator partnerships,” Brown says. “Being here tonight, we want everyone to walk away knowing that we care about them, and that we care about sustainable partnerships over time.” ### **Creating for What's Ahead** Ask either Brown or Barfield Brown, and the throughline is simple: Target doesn't just give creators a shelf. It offers room to create and grow, and the trust to do it their own way. As Barfield Brown put it on the red carpet, “So many Target team members are like family to me. They've nurtured my dreams. They've supported me. I've been able to do things I didn't think were possible.” That's the case Target is making to every brand and creator watching, that the best partnerships aren't one-and-done deals. They're relationships designed to last, built on letting creators do what they do best. Create.  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