Whether or not you actually like LIDL’s colourful new clothing line, one fact remains; the hype for the Limited Edition “Fan Collection” is very real. Now, as Malta’s stock has started seriously depleting, rumours of a mass recall to mainland Italy are triggering the nation.

But are they actually true?

After a report quoting “insider sources” started making the rounds earlier today, many Maltese people took to social media to lament the injustice, saying the whole thing stinks of an all-too-familiar pattern for islanders.

“If this is true, it’s fucking disgusting,” one particularly angry Facebook user posted earlier this afternoon. “This is not even about the trainers. I’m really fed up of Maltese people being treated like third-world citizens and only ever getting the stock that no one else wants.”

“So now, because the Italians want more, we have to send back the stock assigned to us? This is an absolute disgrace, especially from a company that constantly advertises itself as being for everyone.”

Further fuelling the suspicions, stores around Malta have suddenly started selling out in the last hours, with a number of empty stands and crates dotting more than one branch around the island.

“My mum was there last night and they had a whole lot left,” one person told Lovin Malta. “I went again early this morning, and there was nothing left. Absolutely nothing. Not even the odd sock or flip flop. Safi, Luqa, Żejtun… nothing. Not even the ugly ones no one wanted.”

But when contacted by Lovin Malta, LIDL representatives said they had heard nothing of the sort, and that the whole thing sounded extremely implausible.

LIDL’s Customer Care service for Malta is located in Italy, but spokespeople of the dedicated team said that they were absolutely not aware of the rumoured recall, questioning the entire logistics of such an operation.

“We have 600 stores in Italy,” the representative replied, sounding visibly entertained at the rumour. “How could we top up the whole nation’s stock with the remaining items from six small stores in Malta?”

Going on to confirm the coveted line’s popularity, the customer care representative told Lovin Malta that maybe, the #LIDLFan hype had finally kicked off on the island. “In Italy, the collection came out on Monday, and it was completely sold out in hours,” she said. “Our current response to the many clients who call us about it is always the same – we should be stocking up again in a matter of weeks. But we have absolutely no information about that new stock coming from Malta, and I wouldn’t know why or how anyone would say that.”

Whether or not the eyebrow-raising rumour turns out to be true, though, one thing’s for sure: the hype for those cheap blue, yellow and red shoes is not going anywhere anytime soon.

Featured Image Photo: LIDL crates in Finland empty within hours of the clothing line’s launch

What do you make of this?