Updated Aug. 14 at 4:39 a.m. E.T.
Rihanna clearly borrowed something from Victoria’s Secret & Co. when she launched into lingerie with Savage x Fenty.
Now Victoria’s Secret has returned the favor by hiring away Savage x Fenty’s chief executive officer Hillary Super as its own CEO, putting her in charge of one of fashion’s most high-profile reinventions.
Super starts on Sept. 9 and takes over from Martin Waters, who’s leaving the company.
Donna James, chair of Victoria’s Secret, said in a statement that Super would “power the business’ next chapter and deliver the foremost tenet of our transformation strategy: accelerating growth in our core business in North America.”
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Investors approved of the move and sent shares of Victoria’s Secret up 16.4 percent to $22.20 on Wednesday, giving the company a market capitalization of $1.7 billion.
Super’s short tenure at Savage x Fenty — she just took the job in June 2023 — put her at the cutting edge at a fashion lingerie business that is both celebrity-powered and ultra-inclusive.
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Savage x Fenty took a good deal of attention away from Victoria’s Secret when it launched in 2018 and expanded rapidly, with top-name models and a televised runway show that rivaled Victoria’s Secret’s show, which was later paused and revamped.
But Super also brings a much longer résumé to Victoria’s Secret, filled with experiences that will help her navigate a company with 30,000 associates across more than 1,370 stores in upward of 70 countries.
During four years at Urban Outfitters Inc., she rose to be global CEO of the Anthropologie Group, which includes the Anthropologie, Bhldn and Terrain brands. Before that, she held merchandising and operator roles at Guess Inc., American Eagle Outfitters Inc., Gap Inc. and Ann Taylor Inc.
At Victoria’s Secret, she can be expected to bring more of a merchant’s eye to the job than Waters did, while also applying the savvy of an operator.
“She understands vertically integrated retail brands and has an intuitive understanding of the consumer landscape, informed by customer insights which are critical for consistently delivering in this industry and its ever-accelerating fashion and economic cycles,” James said. “We are confident that Hillary can leverage VS&Co’s industry-leading brands with significant category and international expansion opportunities to accelerate growth and create shareholder value.”
Super is coming in as the company shows signs of some progress on the bottom line.
In conjunction with news of a new CEO, Victoria’s Secret said its second-quarter adjusted earnings would come in at 34 cents to 39 cents a share. That’s significantly ahead of the 5 cents to 20 cents the company guided to earlier as well as the 16 cents analysts had penciled in, according to Yahoo Finance.
Sales for the quarter are now expected to be down by 1 to 2 percent, a slightly tighter range than the 1 to 3 percent previously forecast by the firm.
But that bump up in adjusted profits comes in what’s been a very long journey for Victoria’s Secret, which for years epitomized a va-va-voom image of sexiness only to fall out of sync with many customers and the times.
Waters worked to underscore that the brand had many women leaders and that it was listening to and not dictating to women. The showcase runway show and spectacle was put into the hands of women creators.
But the business continued to struggle.
Comparable sales fell 9 percent last year as adjusted net income declined to $178 million from $416 million as the company really established itself as a stand-alone entity.
Victoria’s Secret was part of L Brands Inc., alongside Bath & Body Works, and was set to be spun off to Sycamore Partners, but the private equity firm reversed course during the pandemic, sued to get out of the deal and ultimately got its way in May 2020.
Waters became CEO later that year and Victoria’s Secret was spun out via an initial public offering that was part of a rush of new offerings in 2021.
But while Victoria’s Secret’s market cap neared $7 billion in its early go-go days on the market, it fell to as low as $1.1 billion last year.
Waters had the difficult task of reintroducing the company to Wall Street while evolving its operations.
James said: “We thank Martin for his many contributions to Victoria’s Secret. He has established a foundation for VS&Co to enter its next chapter, building an inclusive culture, growing our digital platform capabilities, enhancing the customer experience online and in stores, repositioning our international business for growth, and successfully executing our multiyear separation from our former parent company.”
Now it’s Super’s turn at the top and time to see what she can do with a $6.2 billion business that spans Victoria’s Secret, Pink, Adore Me and more, but still needs to get its mojo back.
“The strength of these iconic brands, supplemented by an incredible beauty business, provides numerous opportunities for future growth,” Super said. “I look forward to working with Donna and the rest of the board and management team to make VS&Co the world’s leading fashion retailer of intimate apparel, rapidly expand our cultural influence, and create a dominant global market position to grow shareholder value.”
Jonna Kim, an analyst at TD Securities, said “the leadership change is a positive catalyst as the turnaround of Victoria’s Secret/Pink appears more credible under the new leadership.”
“We believe the new CEO at the helm could start a new chapter for the company,” Kim said. “Our view is that Victoria’s Secret and Pink have high awareness that can be leveraged with the right merchandise strategy and execution to create higher cultural relevance and customer following.
“Ms. Super will likely provide a merchant perspective to the brands, and we believe she will focus on product innovation, building customer intimacy, improving the marketing and brand messaging, and enhancing speed to market capabilities.”