With ratings for Victoria’s Secret‘s annual fashion show down, the discontinuation of its famed catalogue two years ago and sales plunging lower than the brand’s signature push-up, it’s safe to say the company’s in some trouble.
Add to that a brand analyst’s reported prediction that VS would be the next major company shunned by millennials and there is a major problem for the fashion giant. VS has only itself to blame, according to Mel Magazine, since it has seemingly refused to add any diversity to its startlingly lithe and unrealistically thin lineup of models when consumers are craving it the most.
In short, the company’s downfall isn’t necessarily a bad thing, depending on the eye of the beholder.
In a risky, further alienating move, the lingerie company’s CMO, Ed Razek, told Vogue earlier this very month that VS doesn’t see the need to market towards or include plus-sized or trans women in its advertising.
“We market to who we sell to, and we don’t market to the whole world,” Razek said.
VS also has competition it never experienced before — stores that argue a woman can and should feel sexy at every size and that beauty standards have shifted. Currently, VS sizes only go up to a 16, or an XL, companies like ThirdLove, True&Co. and others offer up to a 28; a much wider range. Those brands can also sometimes offer better quality, without a dated, in-your-face logo all over everything (sorry, Pink).
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