MINNEAPOLIS — The buzz last month over Target’s limited-edition Missoni designer line was unprecedented, as shoppers lined up outside stores well before they opened and online consumers gave the discounter’s website all the traffic it could handle and then some.

The buzz last month over Target’s limited-edition Missoni designer line was unprecedented, as shoppers lined up outside stores well before they opened and online consumers gave the discounter’s website all the traffic it could handle and then some.

Industry observers likened the early September excitement to the frenzy of Black Friday — the day after Thanksgiving when massive discounts herald the start of the holiday shopping ­season.

The Missoni for Target collection — comprising 400 items from the Italian luxury knitwear designer ranging from stationery to patio furniture and bicycles to apparel — sold out at many stores an hour after they opened. Missoni clothes, with their trademark colorful chevrons, typically cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, but the Target assortment included a $40 skirt.

Buzz preceding the launch led actress Jessica Alba to tweet that she "dreamt about the Missoni 4 Target bike," and that she hoped her husband, producer Cash Warren, would get her one. Singer Jessica Simpson tweeted that she wanted the bicycle too, which was “so cute.”

Alba sought two bicycles before the launch, but Target chief marketing officer Michael Francis said she would have to wait until they were in stores.

The Missoni rollout followed Target’s sale last year of 300 items from Liberty of London. Those virtually sold out in a couple of days.

The discounter fueled demand for the Missoni line with a pop-up store in Manhattan at the start of Fashion Week. It sold out its inventory in six hours.

Online, the pursuit of the Missoni line crashed Target’s website for several hours, as demand exceeded that on Black Friday, typically the biggest shopping day of the year. The site was back up by the end of the day.