Victoria’s secret founding: roy raymond had a great idea, but les wexner was the one to see it through
Roy Raymond had a great idea, but couldn"t make it grow. His story is a great lesson for any nakydaco.com.
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Who vì chưng you think founded the iconic lingerie brand Victoria"s Secret ? If you thought it was a woman, you are wrong.
This brand is the largest lingerie retailer in the United States. It stands out for its refined and flattering designs for the female figure, but its story has a tragic origin.
The brand of women"s lingerie designed for men
Victoria"s Secret was founded in 1977 by American Roy Raymond . This nakydaco.com used lớn feel sorry when he went khổng lồ department stores to lớn buy his wife"s underwear. The fluorescent lights and the vendors made hyên feel lượt thích a pervert.
Raymond, who had an MBA from Stanford University, realized that he was not the only man who felt this way so he found a business opportunity: khổng lồ create a women"s underwear store that makes men feel comfortable.
Roy Raymond / Image: Via Wikitruyền thông media Commons
Perhaps today this concept sounds lượt thích a little feminist, but in the 70s it was a revolutionary concept. Until then, women"s underwear was designed more towards practicality & durability và for most women, elegant lingerie was only used on honeymoons & wedding anniversaries. Raymond"s idea came just around the same time as the women"s movement.
The young nakydaco.com started looking for financing khổng lồ start his business; He got $ 40,000 with a ngân hàng loan & another 40,000 with his in-laws. With this seed capital, he managed khổng lồ open his first store in a shopping center in Palo Alkhổng lồ, California, which he called Victoria"s Secret, a name inspired by the Victorian era of Engl&, seeking to lớn evoke the refinement of the 19th century. His idea for the locals was khổng lồ imitate the high society ladies" dressing tables with fine wood accents and silk curtains.
The first year Victoria"s Secret managed to sell $ 500,000. Five sầu years later, Raymond had already managed khổng lồ open three more stores & launch the first edition of what would become the iconic catalog.
The beginning of the problems
By 1982, according khổng lồ Slate , the firm had already reported annual sales of $ 4 million. However, the company was on the brink of bankruptcy.
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According lớn authors Michael J. Silverstein and Neil Fiske in their bookTrading Up , management problems forced Raymond to lớn find a new partner. This would be Leslie Wexner, an nakydaco.com who could be considered one of the fathers of sportswear. When he was đôi mươi years old, Wexner noticed that women were looking for more casual clothes and in 1963 he opened a store called The Limited. His vision paid off because by the time he met Raymond he already had 188 stores and a fortune of $ 50 million.
Wexner saw an opportunity in Victoria"s Secret to lớn exp& inlớn new brands. However, as he himself toldNewsweek magazine in 2010, he noticed that something was wrong with the lingerie brand"s business model: It was not attracting women.
The nakydaco.com saw the potential và in 1982 bought the brand from Raymond for a million dollars. And khổng lồ give the steering wheel and precisely attract women khổng lồ Victoria"s Secret stores, he studied European lingerie boutiques. Also, she thought that the lingerie from this company should be stylish but affordable so that women would want to wear it every day.
Image: Depositphotos.com
As Silverstein và Fiske write, Wexner realized the most important thing: Women wanted to lớn achieve a glamorous fantasy, even if they couldn"t afford high-kết thúc brands.
He transformed the stores lớn make them more elegant with gold tones and perfume bottles with lights in warm tones. He changed the catalog, which had already become very daring, with professional models và more utilitarian products such as the iconic “Miracle Bra”.
Wexner found the point of equilibrium: women went to the stores và men kept looking at the catalog. By 1995, according to lớn Trading Up , Victoria"s Secret had 670 stores in the United States alone và was worth $ 1.9 billion.
The sad end
Sadly, the father of the br& Roy Raymond remained as president of the company for just one more year after selling it to lớn Wexner and then resigned khổng lồ found My Child"s Destiny, a high-kết thúc catalog & retail company for children. But as a Thủ đô New York Times article reported, poor planning forced hyên ổn to file for bankruptcy in 1986.
Raymond"s life ended up falling apart when he divorced. Sadly, in 1993 Roy Raymond jumped to his death from the Golden Gate Bridge.
Raymond recognized a market need to lớn create the brvà and Wexner had the vision khổng lồ grow it. Today, Victoria"s Secret is arguably the most famous lingerie brand in the world with reported 2019 revenue of more than $ 6.81 billion.
