Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing and beauty retailer. Founded in 1977 by Stanford graduate student Roy Raymond and his wife Gaye, the company's five lingerie stores were sold to Les Wexner in 1982. Wexner rapidly expanded into American shopping malls, expanding the company into 350 stores nationally with sales of $1 billion by the early 1990s, when Victoria's Secret became the largest lingerie retailer in the United States. Since 1995, the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show has been a major part of the brand's image, featuring an annual runway spectacle of models promoted by the company as fantasy Angels. The 1990s saw the company's further expansion throughout shopping malls, along with the introduction of the 'miracle bra', the brand Body by Victoria, and the development of a line of fragrances and cosmetics. In 2002, Victoria's Secret announced the launch of PINK, a brand that was aimed to teenagers and young women. Starting in 2008, Victoria's Secret expanded internationally, with retail outlets within international airports, franchises in major cities overseas, and company-owned stores throughout Canada and the UK. By 2016, Victoria's Secret's market share had begun to decline, due to competition from other brands that embraced a wider range of sizes and a growing consumer preference for athleisure. In 2016, the company canceled the circulation of its catalog. The brand struggled to maintain its market position following criticism and controversy over the unsavory behavior and business practices of corporate leadership under Wexner and Ed Razek. As of May 2020, with over 1,070 stores, Victoria's Secret remained the largest lingerie retailer in the United States. Until 2021, Victoria's Secret was part of the L Brands group. On August 3, 2021, Victoria's Secret was spun off as an independent company under the name Victoria's Secret & Co. (which trades on the NYSE under the ticker symbol VSCO). == History == === 1977–1981 === Victoria's Secret was founded by Roy Raymond, and his wife, Gaye Raymond, on June 12, 1977. The first store was opened in Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, California. Years earlier, Raymond had been embarrassed when purchasing lingerie for his wife at a department store. Newsweek reported Roy Raymond stating: "When I tried to buy lingerie for my wife, I was faced with racks of terry-cloth robes and ugly floral-print nylon nightgowns, and I always had the feeling the department store saleswomen thought I was an unwelcome intruder." Raymond reportedly spent the next eight years studying the lingerie market. At the time when the Raymonds founded Victoria's Secret, the undergarments market in the U.S. was dominated by pragmatic items from Fruit of the Loom, Hanes, and Jockey, often sold in packs of three at department stores, while lingerie was reserved for special occasions such as one's honeymoon. Considered niche products, lingerie items (such as lacy thongs and padded push-up bras) were only found in specialty shops like Frederick's of Hollywood, located "alongside feathered boas and provocative pirate costumes". In 1977, Raymond borrowed $40,000 from family and $40,000 from a bank to establish Victoria's Secret: a store in which men could feel comfortable buying lingerie. The store was named in reference to Queen Victoria and the associated refinement of the Victorian era, while the "secret" was hidden underneath the clothes. Victoria's Secret grossed $500,000 in its first year of business ($2.47 million in 2025), enough to finance the expansion from a headquarters and warehouse to four new store locations and a mail-order operation. The fourth store, added in 1982 at 395 Sutter Street in San Francisco, operated at that location until 1990, when it was moved to the larger Powell Street frontage of the Westin St. Francis. In April 1982, Raymond sent out his 12th catalog at a cost to customers of $3 (equivalent to $10 in 2025); catalog sales accounted for 55% of the company's $7 million annual sales that year. Victoria's Secret was a minor player in the underwear market at this time, with the business described as "more burlesque than Main Street." === 1982–1990 === In 1982, Victoria's Secret had grown to five stores, a 40-page catalog, and was grossing $6 million annually. Raymond sold the company to Les Wexner, creator of Limited Stores Inc of Columbus, Ohio, for $1 million. In 1983, Wexner revamped Victoria's Secret's sales model towards a greater focus on female customers. Victoria's Secret transformed into a mainstay that sold broadly accepted underwear with "new colors, patterns and styles that promised sexiness packaged in a tasteful, glamorous way and with the snob appeal of European luxury" meant to appeal to female buyers. To further this image, the Victoria's Secret catalog continued the practice that Raymond began: listing the company's headquarters on catalogs at a fake London address, with the real headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. The stores were redesigned to evoke the Victorian era. The New York Times reported in 1982 that the financial success of the Victoria's Secret catalog influenced other catalogs by presenting lingerie as "romantic and sensual but tasteful", "in which models are photographed in ladylike poses against elegant backgrounds." Howard Gross became president in 1985. In October of that year, the Los Angeles Times reported that Victoria's Secret was stealing market share from department stores; in 1986, Victoria's Secret was the only national chain devoted to lingerie. The New York Times reported that Victoria's Secret swiftly expanded to 100 stores by 1986. and described it in 1987 as a "highly visible leader" that used "unabashedly sexy high-fashion photography to sell middle-priced underwear." In 1990, analysts estimated that sales had quadrupled in four years, making it one of the fastest growing mail-order businesses. Sales and profits from the catalog continued to expand due to the addition of clothing, swimwear and shoes and wider circulation. Cynthia Fedus-Fields oversaw the company's direct business, including its catalog, from the mid-1980s until 2000. During her tenure, total revenues increased to nearly $1 billion. In 1987, Victoria's Secret was reported to be among the bestselling catalogs. === 1991–2005 === Victoria's Secret experienced quality problems with their product in the early 1990s and was working to resolve the issues. In 1991, Howard Gross was assigned to fix the L Brands subsidiary Limited Stores. In 1993, Business Week reported that both divisions suffered. Grace Nichols, who worked to improve the product quality, succeeded Gross. The company's margins tightened, resulting in slower growth in profits. With the introduction of their own line of fragrances in 1991 and their entry into the billion-dollar cosmetics market in 1998, Victoria's Secret expanded beyond apparel in the 1990s. Victoria's Secret introduced the 'Miracle Bra' in 1993, selling two million within the first year. When faced with competition from Sara Lee's WonderBra a year later, in 1994, the company responded with a TV campaign. At the same time, in 1994, Wexner discussed the creation of a company fashion event with Ed Razek. The first Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, held in 1995 in New York, became a mainstay for the company's image for the next 23 years. By 1998, Victoria's Secret's market share of the intimate apparel market was 14 percent and the company also entered the $3.5 billion cosmetic market. The following year, in 1999, the company added the Body by Victoria line. The catalog had achieved "an almost cult-like following". In May 2000, Cynthia Fedus-Fields stepped down as CEO after delivering record profits in 1999 and early 2000. Fedus-Fields later claimed that, up until the time of her departure, the company had acted in accordance with the sensibilities of what a European woman would choose to wear. After her departure in 2000, the brand pursued an image that was "much more blatantly sexy." In May 2000, Wexner installed Sharen Jester Turney, previously of Neiman Marcus Direct, as the new chief executive of Victoria's Secret Direct to turn around catalog sales that were lagging behind other divisions. Forbes reported Turney stating, "We need to quit focusing on all that cleavage." In 2000, Turney began to redefine Victoria's Secret catalog from "breasts—spilling over the tops of black, purple and reptile-print underthings" to one that would appeal to an "upscale customer who now feels more comfortable buying La Perla or Wolford lingerie."; "dimming the hooker looks" such as "tight jeans and stilettos"; and moving from "a substitute for Playboy in some dorm rooms," to something closer to a Vogue lifestyle layout, where lingerie, sleepwear, clothes and cosmetics appear throughout the catalog. Beginning in 2000, Grace Nichols, CEO of Victoria's Secret Direct, led a similar change at Victoria's Secret's stores—moving away from an evocation of 1800s England (or a Victorian bordello). === 2006–2020 === By 2006, Victoria's Secret's 1,000 stores across the United States accounted for one third of all purchases in the intimate apparel industry. In May 2006, Wexner promoted Turney from the Victoria's Secret catalog and online units to lead the whole company. In 2008, she acknowledged "product quality that doesn't equal the brand's hype." In September 2006, Victoria's Secret reportedly tried to make their catalog feel more like magazines by head-hunting writers from Women's Wear Daily. The company had about a third of the market share in its category in 2013. In February 2016, Turney stepped down as CEO of Victoria's Secret after being in the business for a decade. Victoria's Secret was split into three divisions: Victoria's Secret Lingerie, Victoria's Secret Beauty, and Pink, each with a separate CEO. In 2016, direct sales only grew 1.6% and fell by 7.4% in the last quarter of the year, typically a high revenue period due to th