Victoria’s Secret’s decade-long identity crisis has frustrated at least four CEOs. The most recent leader, Hillary Super, believes the solution is simple: start selling bras again.
To achieve this, the company is trying to revamp its image. A visitor to the stores during the brand’s golden age would be hard-pressed to miss its satiny push-up bras with the lascivious slogan: “Instantly increases 2 cup sizes!” Today, the “barely there” lines are highlighted [“quase lá”] FlexFactor and Featherweight, described as “lighter than air, fully supportive”.
It’s not just the styles — comfortable, sporty and full coverage — that have changed, but the entire vibe of the brand. No more low lighting, style boudoirwhich previously defined the brand. What were once black ceilings and walls are now painted a soft shade of pink.
“Bras are the emotional heart of our business,” CEO Super said in an interview. “The direction of the bras is the direction of the company.”
Super is the latest CEO trying to regain the brand’s cultural prestige and, more urgently, investor trust. Victoria’s Secret lost more than half its market value in four years. Today, it is valued at just over $2 billion, with shares down about 27% this year.
Investors blame the board and Super, who was lured last year from Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty with a $1.2 million salary and a $1 million signing bonus. In a critical letter, an activist investor pointed out Super’s “worrying lack of strategic focus.”
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“It sometimes felt like Victoria’s Secret was stuck in a tunnel with no light at the end,” said Neil Saunders, director of research and consulting firm GlobalData.
It’s these criticisms that Super and his team — known as the “Super Squad” — are now responding to.
fashion show
The team’s strategy will be tested at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show next week. The event came to symbolize the core of the company’s existential crisis: what was once a global phenomenon is now seen by many as outdated and retrograde.
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The board even considered scrapping the parade for good, according to people familiar with the discussions, but the live event will return for the second year in a row after a hiatus. The cost of holding the event is estimated at between 35 and 40 million dollars, according to these sources. A company spokesperson said this amount is not publicly disclosed.
Super claims that the focus on bras will mean they will be “at the forefront” of the show as well.
“I see this show as the beginning of our new era of sexy,” she said. “That sexy captures more than one type of person. It’s much more subtle.”
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The marketing for this year’s show, however, doesn’t stray too far from its roots: models in black lingerie, surrounded by abundant feathered angel wings. “More glamour. More stunning women. And now, sexier than ever,” one promotion proclaimed. One of the original Angels, Adriana Lima, will return for her 20th show.
The show will also feature performances, including a group featured on the soundtrack to the Netflix KPop hit Demon Hunters.
At its peak, the extravagant prime-time show attracted 12 million viewers with an openly provocative style.
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“Welcome to the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show,” said host Rupert Everett at the opening of the 2001 broadcast, as supermodels in angel wings and lingerie prepared to parade down a fluorescent-lit catwalk. “Security is tight, and so are the girls.” He would later give a “virtual tour” of Heidi Klum’s body as she stood on a pedestal wearing a black bustier.
The company didn’t just sell bras and underwear, but a costume — a then-innovative approach that captivated consumers. At its peak, Victoria’s Secret controlled about a third of the American bra and underwear market. In 2019, it had revenues of 8.1 billion dollars. Last year, revenue was just over 6 billion.
Victoria’s Secret began to lose space to competitors like Savage X Fenty, by Rihanna, and Skims, by Kim Kardashian — but not because consumers stopped wanting to feel sexy.
Rihanna said she wants her customers to think “I’m a powerful woman” when using her products. And Kardashian is hardly known for being discreet. But brands found a more empowering way to speak to women and adopted a sexy-fits-all-sizes philosophy. This is in stark contrast to the fantasy that the skinny Victoria’s Secret Angels represented.
While contestants embraced female empowerment, body positivity and diversity, Victoria’s Secret faced accusations of bullying and harassment. Links between Les Wexner, CEO of then-parent company L Brands, and pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein also tarnished the brand.
At the time of the scandal, a company spokesperson said he did not believe Epstein “was ever employed by or served as an authorized representative of the company.”
In 2019, the company decided to cancel the parade. The brand had lost so much momentum that bras — its long-time core business — were no longer its best-performing category. In 2022, the beauty line assumed this leadership, accounting for 25% of sales.
“We don’t have a divine right to take the market shares we once had,” then-CEO Martin Waters told analysts in late 2021. “The landscape has changed.”
Super’s hiring signaled that Victoria’s Secret wanted to return to being an authority on sexy. The executive spent two decades moving between retailers like Gap Inc. and Anthropologie. But more recently and importantly, he spent a year leading Savage X Fenty, the lingerie brand that was beating Victoria’s Secret at its own game. Shares rose more than 15% on the announcement of his appointment.
Super said the decision to move away from the sexy DNA “diluted” the Victoria’s Secret brand. So far, though, she doesn’t appear to be taking the company back in that direction. Instead, the company is offering more types of bras without much commentary on what is sexy or not.
“I think before there was a single definition of sexy,” Super told Bloomberg. Now, “it’s something different for every woman. And it’s really about how you feel about yourself. Confidence is sexy.”
For Super, the comfort of the bras is the minimum expected. As for serving a wider variety of customers, the company already offers a wide range of styles but didn’t communicate that effectively, she said.
Last quarter, Victoria’s Secret raised its forecast for the year and now expects to have its best annual sales in three years. The bras were a positive point, highlighted the company, highlighting the success of the FlexFactor launch. The company doesn’t release sales data by category, but Super said it was the first time in years that a new launch made customers buy more of other styles.
Another style, the Featherweight sports bra, was so popular that in July Victoria’s Secret launched a version with a deeper V-neck after hearing that customers wanted to wear it not just at the gym, but also under T-shirts and blouses.
Super’s message has already reached at least some of the people she is trying to win back.
“I really love the store,” said Alia Durlinger, 23, who was shopping at the 5th Avenue location. “I think there has been a rebranding, especially for larger sizes and other body types.” She came out with bras in her hands.
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