Nancy The struggling lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret will be brought back to its swimwear collection and will be discontinued in 2016. Stuart Burgdoerfer, CEO of the brand’s parent company L Brands, said in a earnings conference call that the swimsuit will be relaunched in the spring of 2019.
But swimwear is not the only product category that Victoria Secrets will return to. “We will enter other exit categories,” adds Burgdoerfer. “We have started marketing and selling boots, for example, glasses and other licensed companies.”
The news was released a few days after the brand’s new CEO, John Mehas, who joined Victoria’s secret from Tory Burch. Mehas will succeed Jan Singer, who left the company after sales in the US fell and more than 1,000 stores closed. As a result of a controversial comment by its senior creative character, Edward Razek, Singer resigned less than a week after the brand was attacked. He said that transgender models should not be included in Victoria’s secret fashion show because the show should be “fantasy.”
Razek’s remarks provoked criticism from the public and the media that the brand failed to keep up with the times. Market analysts attribute Victoria’s Secret’s poor sales performance to consumers who are interested in more comfortable choices and tend to support the brand’s more inclusive news. For example, Rihanna’s underwear brand Savage x Fenty is praised for using models of different races and sizes.
