Victoria's Secret could be the next brand Gen Z brings back from the dead

• Victoria's Secret seemingly has a plan to attract Gen Z shoppers and revive its relevance.
• Its efforts focus on blending nostalgia and legacy with modern trends and stars.

During a recent visit to Victoria's Secret, Julia Quang bought three things: Bombshell perfume, flavored lip gloss, and whale-tail thongs.

"It brought me so much nostalgia," she said about perusing the store. "I was like, 'Oh my God, these products are actually really cute, and I remember how fun they used to be.'"

The 23-year-old content creator told Business Insider that she grew up shopping the store's semi-annual sales with her mom and viewed Victoria's Secret as the epitome of sexiness, femininity, and status.

That reputation faded around the same time the brand canceled its annual runway show in 2019 — an infamously rough year for the lingerie company. It then faced the aftermath of widespread criticism for its lack of diverse models, limited clothing sizes, and transphobic comments by its former CMO, Ed Razek, in 2018.

Victoria's Secret began damage control, which mostly created more confusion. It replaced its famous Angels with a collective of spokespeople, swapped its runway show with a fashion-focused documentary, and started selling its products on Amazon.

Some branded these efforts as performative, while others completely lost interest. (The brand's yearly net sales decreased by 3% between 2022 and 2023.)

Victoria's Secret has been slowly turning things around this year, surpassing quarterly revenue estimates in Q2.

Ironically, the brand's nods to the past are convincing customers like Quang to reintroduce Victoria's Secret to their regular shopping rotations.

Embracing the positives of a rocky past

Gen Z loves old-school fashion that they never experienced in its heyday. Just look at the ballet flats and maxi skirts they've advocated for and the brands like Coach and Abercrombie & Fitch they've revived.

Returning to Victoria's Secret would be a natural next step for young shoppers — so long as the brand gives them something to yearn for.

That's likely why Pink, the younger, secondary brand to Victoria's Secret, has been reintroducing its logo sweats and bedazzled foldover leggings — which were popular throughout the early aughts — in recent months.

Similarly, the brand's nostalgic beauty products have reached the top of teen wishlists thanks to popular social media posts. Piper Sandler even named Victoria's Secret as the third most popular fragrance brand with young people in its 2024 Gen Z survey.

Victoria's Secret lingerie is also slowly returning to form.

"They're bringing back these very colorful, lacy pieces, and I really appreciate it because that is Victoria's Secret," shopper Elizabeth Lyons, 21, told BI. "You want to feel sexy and very feminine when you wear it."

The fact that these garments are reminiscent of old-school Victoria's Secret styles but still modern enough to work with fashion trends —think balletcore, coquette, and old money — is key to success, Kimmay Caldwell, an undergarment educator, told BI.

"Intimates are part of fashion," she said. "Just as clothing trends change, so do undergarment trends — mostly to serve the style of popular clothes."

Victoria's Secret is also blending nostalgia and modernity in its marketing efforts.

The brand has embraced popular memes like Brat Summer to sell its designs on Instagram and has crafted aesthetically pleasing visuals to boost brand awareness on TikTok. It's also going back in time with the reintroduction of its annual runway show on Tuesday night.

Considering that Morning Consult named Victoria's Secret the 20th fastest-growing brand among Gen Z in December 2023, these recent efforts seem directly targeted at the burgeoning fan base.

The power of pop stars and angels

Victoria's Secret once boasted a clique of thin models who sported massive wings on their backs to serve as brand ambassadors.

While it disbanded its group of Victoria's Secret Angels in 2021, the brand isn't done with its most famous stars.

Tyra Banks, Behati Prinsloo, Candice Swanepoel, and Jasmine Tookes are among the former Angels returning to the Victoria's Secret stage, this time as "iconic models," according to the brand's website.

They'll join Paloma Elsesser, Devyn Garcia, Ashley Graham, and other fan favorites to create a more diverse and inclusive cast than any to walk for Victoria's Secret before.

Off the runway, Victoria's Secret has tapped influential stars like Sabrina Carpenter to promote its products.

The "Espresso" singer has been wearing the brand's lingerie during each stop of her current tour. Caldwell described her as a "perfect fit" for the intimates brand.

"She has that '90s vibe about her with her hair and makeup, and she oozes sexy, cute, and fun — which is what Victoria's Secret really wants to get back to," she said.

Olympic gymnast Suni Lee has also regularly sported the brand's athleisure, and influencer Alix Earle previously starred in one of the brand's social media campaigns.

These stars still fit a classic mold. Like Victoria's Secret's usual models, they're successful, beautiful, and live mostly unattainable lives. They're also undeniably influential.

"We had those years where, if you were aware, it wasn't actually cool to support this company," Caldwell said. "But when you see someone who you love, respect, and who's really the epitome of cool to you being like: 'I love them, and I wear them,' then you're like, 'Oh, I guess it's OK for me to wear this brand, too."

The Victoria's Secret comeback isn't official — yet

Rewind a few years and Victoria's Secret seemed to be on uneven footing.

According to Victoria's Secret, its net sales, which reached $7.5 billion between February 2019 and February 2020, plummeted to $5.4 billion during the same timeframe the following year. Those sales then failed to surpass $6.7 million between 2021 and 2023.

But the intimates brand is now showing progress in sales and customer interest.

Its stock rose in August for the first time since 2021 when former Savage X Fenty CEO Hillary Super took that same role at Victoria's Secret. Days later, the brand also reported improved sales for the fourth consecutive quarter — the first time that number's grown year-to-year since 2021.

A Victoria's Secret representative told BI its loyalty program has also been largely successful. They said it relaunched last year and now has over 32 million members who drive about 80% of weekly sales.

Lauren Sherman and Chantal Fernandez, the authors of "Selling Sexy: Victoria's Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon," told BI it's unclear which of the brand's marketing and sales strategies are working best to boost those numbers.

Now that Super has entered the company's sphere, Victoria's Secret's game plan could change entirely. Both authors said the CEO has her work cut out for her.

"I think it's too soon to say what her priorities are," Fernandez said of Super. "She is probably still figuring them out herself because she's only been there a month or so, and this is a massive business that can't be changed overnight."

But there are ways that Victoria's Secret can turn consumer interest into bigger, long-term success.

First, the brand can't rely solely on Gen Z shoppers — no matter how interested young people are in its products at the moment.

"The reality is that you want everyone in this market to look at your stuff because it's so fragmented," Sherman said. "You need people who are 15 and people who are 50 buying it."

The brand seems to be doing just that by introducing Joseph Altuzarra to its workforce. The atelier designer will debut a ready-to-wear clothing collection at the brand's fashion show, targeting a new group of customers with a wide interest in clothes and an appreciation for luxury goods.

Nostalgic customers also shout about their wants and needs from Victoria's Secret online. The brand simply needs to pay close attention.

Fernandez and Sherman pointed to the brand's popular loungewear as an example. While Victoria's Secret now offers its foldover leggings in neutral colorways with slight bedazzling, they're not exactly like those from the brand's past with massive logos, neon colors, and bold animal prints.

Customers, as they've been saying on social media, want to buy the latter. Victoria's Secret would be remiss not to seize this opportunity and others like it.

A Victoria's Secret representative says the brand — which boasts a board of directors of 89% women — is working on that.

"Victoria's Secret celebrates and supports all women," the representative said. "We strive to make sure women feel represented in everything we do — from our products to our marketing to our advocacy programs."

"We have evolved into a more inclusive brand from the inside out, and we continue to keep our customers — both old and new — at our core and listen to their needs so that we remain a brand they love and can see themselves in," the representative added.

Victoria's Secret is still far from being the retail powerhouse it once was. Still, the brand is starting to catch people's attention, which is more than it could say two years ago.