Daphne Howland
4 min read
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Victoria’s Secret & Co.’s CEO Hillary Super is under fire just nine months into her tenure from an investor who would like to see the lingerie giant step back into the past.
In a letter to the retailer’s board chair this week, Barington Capital Group Chairman and CEO James Mitarotonda advocated for bringing back the lingerie giant’s “iconic Angels campaign” and shaking up its board, and against its adoption of a poison pill last month to stave off a hostile takeover. He criticized Super as having limited leadership experience, especially at a public company or in intimates, and has demonstrated “a troubling lack of strategic focus.”
Super arrived in September after serving as Savage x Fenty CEO for about a year. In April she brought on Adam Selman, previously chief design officer for Savage X Fenty, to be executive creative director.
Victoria’s Secret & Co. in an email to Retail Dive expressed confidence in its “strategy under the new and experienced leadership team” and said that, while Barington hasn’t sought to engage with the company, it was open to a discussion.
Mitarotonda gave Barington Capital props for L Brand’s stock performance of several years ago. The firm was advising the L Brands board until the once-mammoth apparel conglomerate formally spun off Victoria’s Secret in 2021. Since then the lingerie company has lost over $2.4 billion in shareholder value, he wrote. As of Friday Barington owned more than 1% of Victoria’s Secret & Co.’s outstanding common stock.
“We can’t bring back the Angels because we’re not in that time, and that’s what shot down Victoria’s Secret in the first place."
Jessica Ramírez
Co-founder and Managing Director, The Consumer Collective
The company was losing market share back then, too, however, and Barington’s idea to revive the old Angels campaign would be shortsighted, according to Jessica Ramírez, co-founder and managing director of The Consumer Collective advisory firm. The brand’s share losses continued through its most recent quarter.
“We can't bring back the Angels because we're not in that time, and that's what shot down Victoria’s Secret in the first place,” she said. “They didn't catch up with the times, they didn't want to innovate. To want to bring back the exact same model, the exact same messaging, from when it was successful — you have to understand that the ‘90s and the 2000s were a different time. That go-to-market strategy isn't going to work today.”
