Hillary Super is on a roll at Victoria’s Secret Co., and has raised the company’s outlook for the year.
When Super became chief executive officer in September 2024, Victoria’s Secret was at something of a loss — pressured by activist investors and failing to regain momentum after a stretch in the cultural wilderness.
But lately, the brand has been getting its stride back and, in the first quarter, picked up the pace with a 15 percent increase in sales to $1.6 billion. That beat the 12.7 percent gain analysts projected, according to Yahoo Finance.
Comparable sales rose 13 percent, showing a significant rebound from the 1 percent drop in the first quarter of 2025.
Earnings for the quarter ended May 2 totaled $48 million, or 56 cents a diluted share, up from a loss of $2 million, or 2 cents, a year earlier. Adjusted earnings per share hit 60 cents, almost twice the 32 cents analysts forecast.
The only thing that the company and its current activist-antagonist — Brett Blundy’s BBRC International — seem to agree on is that the retailer is doing much better under Super. (But Blundy is still trying to get investors to withhold their votes for two directors, including chair Donna James, citing what he sees as prior missteps at the firm).
In an interview with WWD, Super said the company had a “really nice quarter,” but zeroed in on how broad-based the growth was.
“We saw double-digit growth in Pink, Victoria’s Secret and beauty across digital, across stores, across international,” she said. “Very, very consistent business.”
Bras saw double-digit increases and gained share during the quarter, according to Super.
“Bras are the heartbeat of the VS business,” she said. “It’s definitely the halo, but I think this team is just getting in its stride.”
Panties and sleepwear saw increases in the mid-teens, outpacing bras.
Pink is being driven by apparel still, but now also bras, which the CEO said have become “an equally big growth engine for us.”
And beauty, which is now getting play in all of the company’s marketing campaigns, is anchored by fine fragrance and mists.
To stoke the brand heat, Victoria’s Secret has been amping up its marketing, partnering with the likes of K-pop phenom Twice, model Hailey Bieber and basketball player Angel Reese.
And that seems to have helped strengthen the brands and translate to the top line.
“When you look at what we’re selling, things that are very clearly VS or Pink brand coded — whether it’s logoed or the Pink stripe — are doing crazy well in the assortment and really driving a significant amount of sales,” Super said.
The success on the brand side has let the company turn more of its attention to operations.
“There’s a lot of back-of-house stuff that we’re optimizing this year because last year was really the focus on brand definition, brand proposition, brand books, building out the team. It was very brand and product forward last year,” Super said.
“That work continues, but it’s in process now and it’s fine tuning, but there’s more back-of-house operational things to support things that are going on. Just making sure we are future-proofing our organization is a very top priority.”
It’s a big change, especially in under two years.
“We were so transactional and value driven and now we are so emotional, tapping into how she feels about herself, being a place where she can be confident or feel great,” Super said. “It’s just a very different tone and a very different positioning and we’re driving this fun and brand heat through all of the activations. And so I just think it’s a place that she wants to be a part of the community.”
Super had her doubters when she joined, but has been heads-down focused on the turnaround.
“It was a really heavy lift,” she said. “I’ve been training my whole life for this. I’ve been focused on the female consumer since I was 15… That ability to tap into the female mind I think is a competitive advantage.”
This year, Victoria’s Secret now expects sales to range from $7.03 billion to $7.13 billion, up from the $6.85 billion to $6.95 billion forecast in March.
Adjusted operating income is slated for $550 million to $580 million, up from the prior guidance of $430 million to $460 million.
