Victoria’s Secret CEO Hillary Tremendous.
A month earlier than Hillary Tremendous began her job as chief government of Victoria’s Secret final yr, she joined a city corridor assembly by video to introduce herself. “I’m an introvert,” she advised workers. “I’m just a little bit reserved and quiet by nature, and I don’t need anybody to interpret that as me being aloof or unapproachable.”
Victoria’s Secret CEO Is Pushing ‘a New Period of Horny’
An introvert looks like a stunning selection to steer a model identified for its ultrasexy picture that was on the incorrect aspect within the cultural upheaval of the #MeToo motion and was tainted by its former chief Les Wexner, who was a friend and business associate of Jeffrey Epstein.
Victoria’s Secret pivoted in 2019 by tapping the brakes on seduction—and even canceled its iconic trend present. As a substitute, it went for consolation to woo a brand new era of youthful customers who have been tossing out their underwire bras for bralettes and embracing physique variety. The hassle, spearheaded by former CEO Martin Waters, initially boosted gross sales and earnings however then stalled out. Waters exited in August 2024 and Tremendous was employed.
Tremendous’s reply is to attempt to discover a center floor, whereas dealing with down activist buyers. She’s retooling the style present and introducing new merchandise that she says put a contemporary spin on attractive. A brand new underwire bra, for instance, is encased in cloth to make it extra snug.
Tremendous, who knew she was an introvert from a younger age, says the trait is her superpower. It signifies that she thinks issues via earlier than responding. She prefers face-to-face conferences so she will be able to tune into physique language. When she is in her workplace—on the firm’s company headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, or New York Metropolis—she not often makes use of emails and as an alternative tracks folks down in particular person.
“I do extra listening than speaking, I ask numerous probing questions and I attempt to give my opinion final,” mentioned Tremendous, who’s 53 years outdated, throughout a current interview.
As a baby in Arcadia, Calif., a suburb northeast of Los Angeles, Tremendous spent a lot of her time alone, studying, drawing and portray. “I used to be inside my head,” she mentioned. She grew up in a loving however strict house with a youthful sister.
Her mother was a homemaker and her dad began out promoting Playtex bras and labored his method as much as CEO of a industrial printing firm. Her mother taught her that small issues matter. “She would put particular notes in my lunch field,” she mentioned. From her dad, who died in 2007, she realized tips on how to hustle, and likewise the significance of constructing relationships and being true to your phrase.
At 15, she obtained a job at an area retailer—Sweats & Surf, a now defunct mall chain that bought teenagers brightly coloured sweats, swimsuits and boardshorts. The shops had a wall of sweatpants in rainbow hues.
“I obtained superb at folding,” Tremendous mentioned. “I favored observing what makes somebody like one thing or not like one thing.”
Tremendous’s profession trajectory modified when the daddy of a buddy advised she be a part of his firm’s executive-training program.
Tremendous wished to go to artwork faculty to review determine portray, however her dad insisted she enroll at a standard four-year faculty. On the College of Southern California, the pure redhead dyed her hair pink as an act of defiance. When she realized her dad would flip out if she confirmed up at house throughout a break with pink hair, she enlisted the assistance of her grandmother, who tried unsuccessfully to bleach it out.
She majored in humanities with a give attention to men and women in society and deliberate to go to graduate faculty to turn into a professor.
Her trajectory modified when the daddy of a school buddy, who was president of Mervyn’s, a now-closed chain that on the time was owned by Goal, advised she be a part of the corporate’s executive-training program.
She enrolled and realized the monetary aspect of merchandise shopping for—what number of items to buy and tips on how to allocate merchandise throughout a retailer fleet.
When Tremendous was round 22, she obtained further piercings in her ears. Her dad didn’t approve of the bohemian look. He requested her if that was the fashion of an government, his method of telling her to decorate for the function she wished. Tremendous, who was near her dad regardless of their variations, finally let all however one of many further piercings shut up. “He was so proper about so many issues,” she mentioned.
She joined Hole in 2003 as a merchandise supervisor and oversaw ladies’s knits and equipment amongst different roles. Tremendous additionally met her spouse, Michele Sizemore, at Hole. The couple married in 2017 and don’t have any youngsters. Sizemore nonetheless works at Hole as head of world product growth.
Tremendous joined American Eagle Outfitters in 2007 as a normal merchandise supervisor and obtained within the behavior of counting how many individuals she noticed sporting American Eagle denims on the airport, Starbucks or wherever. “I’m all the time in search of patterns,” she mentioned.
She joined Anthropologie in 2017 and rose to turn into CEO. Her subsequent cease was Rihanna’s lingerie model, Savage X Fenty, the place she was CEO for simply over a yr.
In 2021, former guardian L Manufacturers modified its identify to Tub & Physique Works and spun off Victoria’s Secret right into a separate publicly traded firm.
When Tremendous joined Victoria’s Secret in September 2024, the corporate, which additionally sells sleepwear and sweetness merchandise and owns PINK, a model geared towards college-age ladies, she inherited a large number. Gross sales had fallen for greater than two years and it was dealing with new rivals like Kim Kardashian’s Skims model and ThirdLove, which succeeded in the best way that Victoria’s Secret hadn’t—by pitching itself as body-positive and promoting a wider vary of sizes.
A Victoria’s Secret commercial from 2022.Fashions Karolina Kurkova, Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum, Gisele Bundchen and Adriana Lima at a Victoria’s Secret trend present in 2003.
Her predecessor’s technique to tone down the intercourse enchantment at Victoria’s Secret was a mistake, Tremendous mentioned. “Selections have been made out of concern,” she mentioned of the earlier management. The corporate was attempting too laborious to not offend anybody and the model “obtained a bit watered down.”
“On the time I took over, Victoria’s Secret was considered inappropriate and off-color and we needed to right these errors,” Waters mentioned. “Now, occasions have modified and I assist what Hillary is doing.”
As well as, the corporate’s analysis indicated that customers wished extra consolation at decrease costs, and Victoria’s Secret began specializing in these attributes in its promoting. That, Tremendous mentioned, was one other mistake. “Consolation and worth are desk stakes,” Tremendous mentioned. “What makes somebody say, ‘I must attempt that,’ is an emotional connection. That’s what has been lacking.”
Earlier than she had an opportunity to make many adjustments, two activist buyers pounced—BBRC Worldwide, an funding agency based by Australian billionaire Brett Blundy and Barington Capital Group. Across the similar time, Victoria’s Secret was hit with a cyberattack that pressured it to close its web site for 3 days.
Victoria’s Secret stays an enormous model with $6.2 billion in annual gross sales and greater than 1,370 shops worldwide. It sells two bras each second, in response to the corporate.
Tremendous has been including extra “bra match specialists” to shops. The corporate lately launched the FlexFactor, a bra with an underwire that’s encased in cloth to make it extra cushioned towards the pores and skin. It’s additionally rolling out new merchandise beneath its “Very Horny” line which have extra bling, together with double-push up bras with extra padding to offer further quantity and carry. “It’s unapologetically attractive,” Tremendous says of the brand new line.
Tremendous’s efforts are inching in the proper path. Gross sales have elevated in all however one quarter since she took the helm. In the newest interval, which ended Aug. 2, they rose 3%.
The inventory is down roughly 35% since Victoria’s Secret turned an unbiased firm in July 2021, however is up practically 8% since Tremendous turned CEO.
The style present returned final yr for the primary time since 2018 however with a brand new ethos.
Final yr’s trend present highlighted a spread of physique sorts, ages and gender identities, with Tyra Banks taking heart stage 28 years after her 1996 Victoria’s Secret debut.
Transgender fashions and fashions of various ages, ethnicities and physique sizes walked the runway together with conventional Angels—supermodels with big wings hooked up to their backs.
Tremendous mentioned there might be new updates for this yr’s present, which can air Oct. 15, however declined to elaborate. “What’s a contemporary Angel?” she mentioned. “Does it need to be a supermodel? We’re having these debates.”
Write to Suzanne Kapner at suzanne.kapner@wsj.com
