Victoria’s Secret brought sexy back – and it’s paying off.
The iconic Fashion Show on Oct. 15 turbo charged its sales this fall with the company reveling in the “halo” effect of the super model catwalk, chief executive Hillary Super said on an earnings call Friday.
“This year’s fashion show was a defining moment in how we have evolved into the new era of sexy,” she said. “The show serves as a powerful acquisition engine.”
The company saw its shares soar by more than 15% late Friday morning after it raised its full-year guidance for 2025 and turned in its highest quarterly sales growth in more than four years – up 9.2% to $1.5 billion for the quarter ended Nov. 1.
Despite mixed reviews about the controversial show – which was canceled in 2019 amid scandals including its ties to late perv financier Jeffrey Epstein and brought back last year for the first time – customers voted in favor of the brand with their wallets.
Some items sold out after the show wrapped, Super said, and the momentum carried into November and December.
What’s more, shoppers are paying full price for Victoria’s Secret’s bras and panties – a reversal from the retailer’s promotion-heavy strategy for years, when customers shopped the brand for discounts.
“We have noticed that customers are coming in with their phones and saying, ‘I need this,’ and that’s the goal instead of the price point,” Super said.
The company is also seeing “a slight uptick in higher-income customers,” she added.
Even price increases due to tariffs are not slowing down traffic to its stores, retail consultant Gabriella Santaniello told The Post.
In October, Victoria’s Secret increased its bra prices by $5 to $10, according to Santaniello, who tracks retail prices across the country.
Super, who was tapped a year ago to reverse the company’s declining sales, launched the “Very Sexy” campaign this summer, which includes garter belts, thigh-high stockings, sheer body suits and lacy corset tops.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in September, she said the brand is “very unapologetically sexy.”
In its previous effort not to offend anyone, “the brand got a bit watered down,” Super said. “Decisions were made out of fear.”
The company also got a boost from sales of its teen brand, Pink, which took center stage during the fashion show. Sales of Pink intimates returned to growth for the “first time in years,” the company said on the earnings call.
Reviews for the 2024 installment of the show were also mixed, with some critics saying the retailer changed too little after the #MeToo backlash against it.
This year, the show added athletes including gymnast Suni Lee and WNBA player Angel Reese and more fuller- and plus-size models including Ashley Graham, who made her debut in 2024.
The show had many “diverse ages and body types” Super boasted on the call.
