It’s time. Your laptop is open, with your phone on standby just in case your computer gives out under the pressure. You’ve carefully curated your cart, refreshing the website every few seconds as if it were your full-time job. You’re finally getting that coveted Varsity Mockneck. Or…not? The screen freezes. The dreaded human verification loop begins. Before you know it, two minutes pass, your cart expires, and even the fourth-choice consolation prize item that you just might have settled for is sold out. Sound familiar? If not, congratulations on being immune to the hype—but unfortunately many of us are not.
This scenario played out for thousands of eager consumers on February 4th at 7AM PST during the Parke Valentine’s Day drop. (Yes, I set my alarm for this too). The frustration and disappointment of customers who missed out were plastered all over the brand’s Instagram and TikTok, exposing the growing pains of brands that have scaled out of their initial supply strategies.
As Valentine’s Day approached, influencer-esque companies known for their drop-based business models—like Parke by Chelsea Parke Kramer and Dairy Boy by Paige Lorenze—began rolling out highly anticipated collections. Despite this business model proving effective in generating hype and cultivating a sense of urgency and exclusivity, recent failures to accommodate high consumer demand have highlighted major flaws in this strategy.
Before the launch of Dairy Boy’s bubblegum camo Valentine’s Day collection, Paige Lorenze took to TikTok and Instagram to directly ask customers if they would be interested in the option to pre-order, despite a wait time of over a month. This move came on the heels of the backlash faced by Parke. Paige acknowledged the growing criticism of the drop model, stating, “I see a lot of the comments. ‘Why aren’t you ordering more?’ ‘You don’t order enough for your customers’... I totally hear and understand why people might feel that way.”
She went on to admit that scarcity marketing, intentional or not, had shaped Dairy Boy’s business model. “I would be lying if I said to you guys that Dairy Boy hasn’t built a business model that has created this scarcity mindset. But with that being said, and I can only speak for myself, I did not create this business with that business model in mind… We actually just, in the beginning, could not keep up with the volume of orders. To be honest, we still haven’t.”
Meanwhile, Parke attempted to do damage control after their Valentine’s day drop backlash. Founder Chelsea Parke Kramer released a statement on Instagram stating, “Today’s Valentine’s Day Collection was unlike anything we’ve ever experienced. We prepared extensively, strengthening our website infrastructure and we anticipated high demand based on our previous tonal drop and your incredible excitement on social media. However, what happened this morning exceeded our wildest expectations—we had over 80,000 visitors to our site, four times our usual traffic on launch days.”
Despite implementing bot protection to ensure real customers had fair access, many users still weren’t able to secure the pieces they wanted. Initially, Parke stated that pre-orders would not be an option due to past production delays. However, after Dairy Boy announced its pre-order availability, Parke quickly doubled back on their claim and opened up pre-orders on Valentine’s Day—albeit with a staggering three-month estimated wait time.
This series of events underscores a growing tension between brands and their increasingly frustrated customers with the drop model. What was once a marketing goldmine for creating exclusivity and driving demand now appears to be alienating loyal consumers. While limited stock promotes hype and excitement, brands like Parke and Dairy Boy are now at a point where understocking is not just a branding strategy—it’s a missed revenue opportunity.
Pre-orders, as Dairy Boy is now experimenting with, may serve as a middle ground. This tactic will allow the brand to gauge demand without risking overproduction while giving customers a fair chance to make purchases. If proven successful, this shift could push other drop-based brands to rethink their strategies.
Ultimately, these Valentine’s Day drops have revealed the cracks in the scarcity-driven approach. Consumers are no longer satisfied with artificial exclusivity when it comes at the cost of a functional shopping experience. Whether brands will adapt or continue to rely on FOMO-driven marketing remains to be seen—but one thing is clear: frustrated customers are making their voices heard, and brands that don’t listen risk losing them for good.
