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One year ago, Victoria\u2019s Secret was in free fall.<\/p>\n
Since spinning off from L Brands (now Bath & Body Works) in 2021, the stock had cratered from $57 to barely $20 a share on a good day. Once the arbiter of all things sexy, with diamond-encrusted bras and winged angels, Victoria\u2019s Secret\u2019s brand was being buried under all things unsexy: the founder\u2019s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, an awkward marketing pivot seen as \u201cwoke-washing,\u201d tariffs, and a board that couldn\u2019t stop fighting. An activist investor was beginning to encircle the board, questioning, among other things, whether the new CEO, Hillary Super, could handle running a public company.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, with nine days to go before shareholders voted on that board, Super delivered the verdict in its first-quarter earnings: $0.60 per share, nearly double what Wall Street expected.\u00a0 Net sales jumped 15% to $1.56 billion, topping guidance, and the company raised its full-year outlook by $120 million, well above street estimates.<\/p>\n
Then the stock nearly doubled its share price, hitting an all-time high of $80 per share.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What was Super\u2019s secret? She had to bring sexy back to everything, even the ticker, which is no longer VSCO but VSXY (\u201ca marker of who we are today,\u201d she wrote in an announcement).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Balancing between risque and woke<\/p>\n
Every brand has had to keep up with the culture. But few have had the times come after them quite like Victoria\u2019s Secret.<\/p>\n
Rigid beauty standards defined Victoria\u2019s Secret in the peak of its mid-aughts glory, with girls watching rows of extra-small, tanned models at the annual fashion show. But as millennials came of age and embraced a new era of body positivity, Victoria\u2019s Secret struggled to rebrand. Their attempts\u2014including a splashy rollout of accomplished celebrity women advisors meant to promote female empowerment\u2014were too on-the-nose, widely dismissed as \u201cwoke-washing.\u201d They failed to win back the shoppers who had left, and didn\u2019t attract younger ones either.<\/p>\n
Super has said that some of those decisions were made out of fear. \u201cThat natural human reaction is to want to stay out of controversy,\u201d she says. Victoria\u2019s Secret was so cautious, it stopped bragging altogether\u2014even about being a go-to destination for bra fittings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Super\u2019s fix wasn\u2019t to swing back to a narrow template of beauty. It was to be authentic. Under her guidance, the company has embraced its heritage\u2014the glamour and spectacle\u2014without the body-shaming. There is still a focus on diversity, but \u201cwithout being performative, where we have to check every box,\u201d she told Fortune earlier this year, \u201cbecause to me that lacks authenticity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The results are now showing up in the numbers. The company delivered its fourth consecutive quarter of positive comparable sales, with Super citing double-digit growth in new customer acquisition\u2014Gen-Z is buying bras! \u2014and a move toward getting shoppers to pay full price rather than waiting for a markdown, which Super called a \u201cpromo-detox\u201d on the earnings call.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are reducing promotions and markdowns and replacing promotional offers with compelling emotional messaging,\u201d Super said. \u201cThe result is a healthier, more brand-led business.\u201d<\/p>\n
CFO Scott Sekella attributed the performance to \u201chigher regular-price selling, reduced promotions, and leveraging buying and occupancy expenses, all despite tariff headwinds.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company also raised its full-year adjusted operating income guidance by more than $100 million, now projecting $550 million to $580 million, citing better-than-expected sales and lower tariff rates following court rulings against President Trump\u2019s sweeping duties.<\/p>\n
Goldman Sachs analyst Brooke Roach called it \u201ca very strong result,\u201d adding that the bank was \u201cencouraged by the solid top-line performance with strength across all channels including North America stores, Direct, and International.\u201d<\/p>\n
The momentum traces back to a pivotal moment last October, when Super unveiled her vision at the brand\u2019s 2025 fashion show. The show opened with model Jasmine Tookes, ethereal in gold wings, cradling her nine-month-pregnant belly, among longtime Angels like Adriana Lima and WNBA star Angel Reese. The message was unmistakable: same wings, different world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Super, a former CEO of Anthropologie and Savage X Fenty who rose through retail ranks from Wet Seal to American Eagle, is the first female CEO of the new public company. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to have an intuition about a category that you cannot put on your body,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
On the earnings call Tuesday, Super noted that her executive team has now been together for roughly a year. \u201cOnce you hit that year, you start compounding your contributions,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are early innings.<\/p>\n
The turnaround still faces headwinds. Victoria\u2019s Secret sources and manufactures across several countries, including Vietnam and Sri Lanka, and faces a $90 million net tariff impact. And Super has been locked in a battle with activist investors who circled while the stock was down, with one directly objecting to her leadership, arguing she had limited public-company experience. Tuesday\u2019s blowout quarter may be her most effective rebuttal yet. <\/p>\n
She has otherwise shrugged off the pressure: \u201cYou have to remember that none of these things are personal, that it\u2019s business,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
#Victorias #Secret #CEO #rejected #wokewashing #endless #sales #cyclesand #paying<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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