The Real Story of Delia’s: From Catalog Days to Target Shelves

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The Real Story of Delia’s: From Catalog Days to Target Shelves

If you were a teenage girl anytime in the late 90s, you know the feeling: running to the mailbox before your parents got to it first, because the new dELiA*s catalog had arrived and you needed to circle everything before your mom saw the corduroy flares you were about to beg for.

I know I used to get real excited when it landed – even though my parents could only afford one jean! But it was a very special jean to me.

For a solid decade, it was basically the group chat of an entire generation of girls — except it came to your actual mailbox, four times a year, packed with butterfly clips, chokers, wide-leg jeans, and models who looked like your older sister’s cool friend instead of an actual supermodel. Then, sometime in the 2010s, it just… disappeared. And now it’s showing up in the Target aisle like nothing happened.

So what actually happened to Delia’s? Here’s the real timeline

How Delia’s Became the Catalog Every 90s Girl Waited For

Delia’s launched in 1993, founded by two Yale grads who pitched the brand to investors by comparing it to MTV. Bold move, but it worked — the “magalog” format (part magazine, part catalog) was unlike anything else being mailed to teenagers at the time, and by 1998 the company was sending out 55 million catalogs a year.

The brand’s whole identity was built around feeling like it got you — that particular late-90s, early-2000s mix of chunky sandals, plaid, and text that was wRiTtEn lIkE tHiS, straight out of an AOL Instant Messenger away message. It became the go-to for girls who weren’t quite ready for juniors’ departments but were very done with the kids’ section.

Why Delia’s Disappeared

Here’s the part most people don’t remember clearly: Delia’s didn’t vanish overnight. It struggled for years before it actually closed.

By the mid-2000s, the same teen shoppers who made Delia’s a phenomenon were drifting toward newer, edgier stores — brands like PacSun, Hot Topic, and American Apparel started pulling its audience away. Delia’s tried to adapt, but online shopping was reshaping the entire teen retail category faster than the company could keep up. Sales dropped for four straight years in a row.

By late 2014, Delia’s had lost $57 million and was trading for pennies on the Nasdaq. In December 2014, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and by March 2015, every physical store and the original website had shut down for good.

For a lot of us, that felt like the actual end. It wasn’t quite.

The Comeback (Yes, Really)

A few months after it closed, investor Steve Russo bought the Delia’s brand for $2.5 million, saying he couldn’t ignore how many former shoppers were mourning it publicly. He relaunched it online-only in August 2015, but that first comeback attempt didn’t stick.

The real second life came in 2018, when the edgy online retailer Dolls Kill licensed the Delia’s name and relaunched it as a sub-brand — leaning hard into the 90s aesthetic that had, by then, become genuinely fashionable again instead of just nostalgic.

Why You’re Suddenly Seeing Delia’s at Target

This is the part that’s catching people off guard on TikTok right now: Delia’s has landed at Target, selling graphic tees, corduroy jackets, plaid pants, and fleece sets that look like they were pulled directly out of a 1998 catalog spread.

It makes sense when you think about the timing. 90s fashion has been steadily working its way back into style for a few years now, and Target has become the place Millennial and Gen X shoppers go for exactly this kind of affordable, low-stakes nostalgia. Delia’s landing there isn’t a coincidence — it’s a brand with two decades of built-in emotional recognition meeting a retailer that knows exactly how to sell a feeling.

And it works. Scroll TikTok right now and you’ll find people filming Target’s Delia’s section like they’ve walked into a time capsule — chunky loafers, cargo pants, butterfly clips, all of it.

Shop the Delia’s Pieces Worth Grabbing

If you want to relive it (or just want your kid to experience the corduroy jacket era firsthand), here’s what’s actually good right now:

dELiA*s Corduroy Zip-Up Jacket — $45 dELiA*s Plaid Pants — $30 dELiA*s Cap Sleeve Mini Dress — $35 dELiA*s Hooded Graphic Zip-Up Sweatshirt — $35 dELiA*s Star Denim Pants — $35 dELiA*s Wide Leg Cargo Pants — $30 dELiA*s Fleece Graphic Sweatpants — $25 dELiA*s Logo Hooded Graphic Pullover Sweatshirt — $30

See our full Delia’s edit here. We curated what we liked and what we think we would still rock right now, not what we would have fit into when we were 15 lol. Enjoy!

FAQ

Is Delia’s still in business? Yes — though not in its original form. The company that ran Delia’s from 1993–2015 shut down after bankruptcy, but the brand name was later licensed and relaunched, and its pieces are now sold at retailers including Target.

What happened to Delia’s clothing? Delia’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2014 after years of declining sales, and closed all of its stores and its original website by March 2015. The brand was revived a few years later under new ownership.

Why is Delia’s at Target now? Delia’s is riding the broader 90s nostalgia wave in fashion right now. Licensing the name to a mass retailer like Target lets a new generation (and plenty of former catalog kids) buy into the aesthetic at accessible prices.

Shop the Full Selection

All the pieces featured in this article — scroll to explore.