Victoria's Secret is ignoring a massive shift in the lingerie industry, and it could be costing it tons of money - Spark Nyc

Victoria's Secret is ignoring a massive shift in
the lingerie industry, and it could be costing it
tons of money
MalorySchlossberg
Jul23,2016,4:08PM

Victoria's Secret's models are all tall and thin. Getty Images/Jamie McCarthy

The lingerie industry is going through a massive change.

Rail-thin models are being replaced with a variety of body types at lingerie companies from Aerie to
Adore Me, as self-acceptance and natural beauty replace the restrictive norms of the past.

This new attitude from consumers threatens everything that Victoria's Secret's marketing is known
for, from the Photoshopped ads of Angels to the outrageously produced fashion show.

And now Adore Me — a company that explicitly told Business Insider in the past that it's out to "slay
Victoria's Secret" — has hired Aerie's popular spokesmodel, Iskra Lawrence.

Lawrence, who has a huge Instagram following, is curvier than the typical lingerie model.

Arguably, Aerie pioneered this movement when it abandoned Photoshop in 2014. It launched its
campaign #AerieREAL and has advertised women that have other body types beyond the typically
pin-thin model found in most lingerie spreads and found a star in the curvy Lawrence.

Last week, Lawrence shared an unphotoshopped photo of herself from her new Adore Me campaign
on Instagram. Notably, it features her in between two traditional looking models, showing that yes, all
women can be depicted together.

"From when I started modelling at 13 to around 19 (when I was only about a UK 10 or US 6/8) I
would have crumbled inside standing next to these two beautiful women and would have been way
too insecure to share a pic like this," she wrote in the post, followed by a story about how she's come
to terms with her body and a message about loving oneself. Lawrence has become something of a
poster girl for body positivity.

Adore Me has also utilized curvy model Sophie Tweed-Simmons. The company seems to be on a
mission to promote inclusivity.

"Adore Me’s vision is to revolutionize the lingerie industry by creating beautiful, affordable intimates
for every body type. We believe that every woman, in every size and body shape, deserves to feel
strong, confident, beautiful and sexy in her own skin," CEO Morgan Hermand-Waiche wrote to
Business Insider. "We are extremely proud to be the only major lingerie line to offer accessible and
inclusive fashion that ranges from petite to plus (sizes 30A-44G for bras and XS-6XL for sleepwear
designs)."

"Part of our mission to redefine lingerie is to challenge common perceptions of what constitutes being
beautiful and sexy. For Adore Me, a world where you have to be a certain size in order to be
considered beautiful is simply unacceptable," he added.

Iskra Lawrence for Adore Me. Adore Me

But women may not even need a lingerie company to tell them that; their perceptions of what's
beautiful and sexy have inherently changed. If the shifts in the dieting industry can tell us anything,

it's that women know that they can have curves and be healthy, and that wellness, not thinness, is now
the goal.

Much of the commercial world has caught on, which makes Victoria's Secret look practically
retrograde. Ashley Graham has graced the covers of Sports Illustrated and Maxim — two magazines
that traditionally target men — almost as proof that the pendulum is swinging in favor of varied body
types, and it might be because of how social media has helped women who might normally not have
had voices have vehicles through which they can communicate.

"Social media in general has given a voice to consumers who might have and have actually up 'til now
felt invisible," Kristy Sammis, founder, chief operating officer, and chief creative officer of Clever
Girls, an influencer marketing organization, told Business Insider.

This photo got heat on Facebook. Facebook/Victoria's Secret

Part of her mission with her company, though, is to help "brands understand that they don’t control
the narrative anymore. They don’t get to say what [we] should like anymore. And so I think Victoria's
Secret’s having a bit of a challenge with that," Sammis said.

"For so long they’ve been able to kind of direct that narrative and say, 'this is what's a beautiful sexy
body looks like,' and consumers are saying 'no, actually my body is what a beautiful, sexy body looks
like,'" Sammis told Business Insider.

That's a lesson Victoria's Secret knows all too well.

In 2014, Victoria's Secret came under fire for for its "Perfect Body" campaign, though the
company ultimately killed the campaign and changed the verbiage to "a body for every body." But was
it really every body?

Following the campaign, curvy model Brittany Cordts launched a petition on Change.org asking the
company to actually show every type of body — or, at least, body types beyond the models that it
displays in its fashion show.

Of course, it doesn't help that the company doesn't sell plus sizes, either. And some women just want
to see more accurate depictions of what women actually look like — which is arguably why Aerie's
Photoshop-free campaign has performed so well. Interestingly enough, in an unusual attempt to sell
"what's real" — that is to say, what is without padding — Victoria's Secret has been zeroing in on
selling the padding-free bralette.

But it's not just about showing a variety of body types. It's about catering to the consumer.

In fact, earlier this year, a Victoria's Secret Facebook photo got heat for being so overtly sexual that
some people thought it bordered on pornographic. Customers on Facebook were furious and called it
"trashy." Was this underwear advertisement for women or for men?

"There's this sense that the body-love influencers are really getting their own and doing it for each
other and themselves, and [that] it’s about ... making themselves feel more confident versus what
Victoria’s Secret tends to do, which makes it feel like it’s for men," Sammis, of Clever Girls, told
Business Insider.

Iskra Lawrence for Aerie. Aerie

For the most part, numbers show that when companies offer more accurate depictions of
women for women, sales improve. Since abandoning Photoshop, Aerie's sales have skyrocketed; in its
most recent quarter, the company saw comparable sales soar 32%.

Adore Me has also seen profits skyrocket over the years. In fiscal 2015, it took in $42.7 million in
revenue — still, nothing on Victoria's Secret's nearly $7.7 billion from fiscal 2015 — but it is rapid

growth from 2014, when it took in $16.2 million. (The company, which operates primarily on a
subscription model, has not been without its struggles; it has been plagued by consumer complaints
about its business model and formal complaints filed by advertising-watchdog firm Truth in
Advertising.)

Hermand-Waiche said that Lawrence and Tweed-Simmons were two of Adore Me's best-selling
models on the company's website, too.

There's even a void in Victoria's Secret marketplace that seems suited to showcase models like Iskra
Lawrence: PINK, the company's successful, teen-oriented brand, the advertising for which is more
flirtatious and less blatantly seductive in nature — though it misses out on the older consumers.

"Pink has done a much better job of desexualization while remaining fun and flirty and sexy in a more
lighthearted way. They now own the younger demographic, leaving the older woman (25+) a bit
disenfranchised. Most women I know are not particularly proud to shop there (even though they may
order their bras online)," Malinda Sanna, founder and CEO of consumer-insight firm SPARK Ideas,
told Business Insider in an email.

Victoria's Secret PINK. Facebook/Victoria's Secret PINK

Although, interestingly, the reason that Victoria's Secret's main line eschews this sort of advertising is
that the brand's customers — despite everything society may be telling them or what they themselves
may be saying on social media — don't seem to mind.

A surreptitious Victoria's Secret Photoshopper recently told Refinery 29 that curvier models don't sell
products as well.

"One time, during a swim season, they had these two girls come in that had abs and thick thighs and
busts. They were really toned and their skin was amazing. They were still obviously models. But they
were a different look. But, they didn’t sell anything and so they stopped using those girls," the photo
editor, who went by Sarah, told the website. She didn't, however, mention when this incident
occurred; a lot has shifted toward consumers' acceptance and self-love recently.

And why would Victoria's Secret want to lose out on sales? After all, during a time when most retailers
are faltering, it holds the whopping majority of the lingerie market and makes billions of dollars.