Victoria's Secret

This article is about the American retailer. For other uses, see Victoria's Secret (disambiguation).
Victoria's Secret & Co.
Company typePublic
IndustryApparel
FoundedJune 12, 1977; 47 years ago (1977-06-12)
Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto, California, U.S.[1]
Founders
Headquarters
Reynoldsburg, Ohio
,
U.S.
Number of locations
1,070 (2020)
775 (by 2021)
Areas served
Primarily US and Canada
Key people
  • Martin Waters (CEO)[3]
  • Greg Unis (president)
  • Dein Boyle (COO)
Products
RevenueDecrease US$11.84 billion (2021)[4]
Increase US$1.58 billion (2021)[4]
Increase US$844 million (2021)[4]
Total assetsIncrease US$11.57 billion (2021)[4]
Total equityDecrease –US$662 million (2021)[5]
DivisionsPink
Victoria's Secret Beauty
Victoria's Secret Lingerie
Websitevictoriassecret.com

Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing, and beauty retailer. Founded in 1977 by a Stanford Student and his wife, Roy and Gaye Raymond,[6][7] the company's five lingerie stores were sold to Les Wexner in 1982.[8] Wexner rapidly expanded into American shopping malls, growing the company into 350 stores nationally with sales of $1 billion by the early 1990s, when Victoria's Secret became the largest lingerie retailer in the United States.[9]

From 1995 through 2018, the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show was a major part of the brand's image, featuring an annual runway spectacle of models promoted by the company as fantasy Angels.[9] The 1990s saw the company's further expansion throughout shopping malls, along with the introduction of the 'miracle bra', the new brand Body by Victoria, and the development of a line of fragrances and cosmetics. In 2002, Victoria's Secret announced the launch of PINK, a brand that was aimed to teenagers and young women.[10][11] Starting in 2008, Victoria's Secret expanded internationally, with retail outlets within international airports, franchises in major cities overseas, and company-owned stores throughout Canada and the UK.[12]

By 2016, Victoria's Secret's market share began to decline due to competition from other brands that embraced a wider range of sizes[13] and a growing consumer preference for athleisure.[14] The company canceled the circulation of their catalog in 2016. The brand struggled to maintain its market position following criticism and controversy over the unsavory behavior and business practices of corporate leadership under Wexner and Ed Razek.[15][16][17] As of May 2020, with over 1,070 stores, Victoria's Secret remained the largest lingerie retailer in the United States.[14][9][18]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Blakeslee2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :13 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Biography - Martin Waters". www.victoriassecretandco.com. Archived from the original on 2022-07-02.
  4. ^ a b c d "Annual Report 2021". Bath & Body Works, Inc.
  5. ^ "Symbol Lookup from Yahoo Finance".
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference NewYorkTimes1986December27BishopKatherine was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Mzezewa, Tariro (2018-11-16). "Victoria's Secret? In 2018, Fewer Women Want to Hear It". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference NewYorkTimes1993September02 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b c Hanbury, Mary (May 21, 2020). "The rise and fall of Victoria's Secret, America's biggest lingerie retailer". Business Insider. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  10. ^ Merrick, Amy (February 29, 2008). "Apparently, You Can Be Too Sexy". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  11. ^ Stevenson, Seth (June 9, 2020). "Victoria's Secret Has Only Itself to Blame". Slate Magazine. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  12. ^ Eaton, Dan (October 17, 2012). "Wexner wants Victoria's Secret accessory stores as 'ubiquitous as Starbucks'". Columbus Business First. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  13. ^ Bhattarai, Abha (February 20, 2020). "5 factors that led to Victoria's Secret's fall". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286.
  14. ^ a b Cheng, Andria (February 28, 2019). "Victoria's Secret Knows It Has A Problem, But Does It Have Time To Fix It?". Forbes. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  15. ^ Goldberg, Carey (January 3, 2020). "Victoria's Secret Models Got Thinner Over 23 Years Of Fashion Show, Study Finds". WBUR. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  16. ^ Silver-Greenberg, Jessica; Rosman, Katherine; Maheshwari, Sapna; Stewart, James B. (February 1, 2020). "'Angels' in Hell: The Culture of Misogyny Inside Victoria's Secret". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  17. ^ Koul, Scaachi (November 25, 2019). "No One's Gonna Miss The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  18. ^ Thomas, Lauren (May 21, 2020). "Victoria's Secret parent company L Brands set to close 250 stores, and that could just be the start". CNBC. Retrieved June 4, 2020.