Victoria’s Secret Embraces The ‘Bralette’

Victoria’s Secret might be one of those rare crossover brands that has equal name recognition among men and women despite selling to just one of them, and it’s done so off the strength of a single product: bras. However, the changing of the tides of consumer preferences is ushering a whole new line of women’s underwear, as well as a new kind of Victoria’s Secret to sell it.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Victoria’s Secret is set to respond to a quarter of slowing growth with a new product line that downplays the lingerie-ness of their traditional top sellers and emphasizes instead the athleisure-esque quality of what it’s calling “bralettes,” or bras sans underwire and padding. While some will run the gamut of sports bras, others will incorporate some of the more risque designs Victoria’s Secret is famous for. It’s clear, though, that most shoppers have moved on, with Google searchers for “bralette” overtaking “sports bra” and “push-up bra” for the first time in 2016.

“[Victoria’s Secret has] realized that their traditional brand marketing is aging and it’s not really connecting with modern-day consumers,” Cora Harrington, editor in chief of the Lingerie Addict blog, told the WSJ.

In addition to market pressure from consumers interested in athleisure-inspired offerings, a slew of online lingerie startups also threatens to chew away at the retailer’s traditional revenue streams, Nomura analyst Simeon Siegel explained.

“You have these other brands that are less so overtly sexy and much more focused on being natural,” Siegel told the WSJ. “It’s too early to say it will steal a dramatic share from Victoria’s Secret but it’s not too early to say that there’s a real consumer preference for it.”