Inside Victoria’s Secret’s new DC store

Victoria’s Secret & Co.’s new store in Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood marks a return after closing a previous location years ago.

The company’s newest space opened at 1220 Wisconsin Ave NW on Aug. 25 in the popular shopping area of the nation’s capital. A company event attended by Retail Dive on Sept. 17 emphasized a refreshed store look as well as Victoria’s Secret’s U.S.-grown cotton program. 

Bright, light shades of pink around the brick-and-mortar space are in sharp contrast to the darker design the retailer’s stores were once known for. Under the helm of CEO Hillary Super, the company is not interested in stepping back into the past, despite the push of some activist investors, and is instead focused on reinvigorating the brand with a joyful approach. 

Situated on two floors of a historic-looking Georgetown retail space, the D.C. store features everything from lingerie to pajamas and fragrance (a category it recently announced it would expand). On the lower level, merchandise from both its namesake and Pink labels is represented side-by-side, with little divide between the two sections. 

The night — attended by leaders from across industry, trade organizations, policy and more — featured a panel discussion with three of the Alabama farmers Victoria’s Secret & Co. purchases cotton directly from. It also included a display to illustrate the production process from plant to finished undergarment.

However, the cotton program isn’t exactly new. Having first launched in 2021, the company says it now directly sources about one-third of all its cotton from these four Alabama farms.

“Victoria’s Secret has broken the mold on the cotton supply chain, and from a farmer’s perspective, in a great way,” Larkin Martin of Martin Farm told the audience. “We used to get checks from a merchant or from a marketing cooperative, and we would get their average price. Now, we get a check from Victoria’s Secret corporate.”

The discussion on U.S. commodities is a timely one, given the impact evolving tariff rates are having on the retail industry. And with the federal government grinding to a halt with a shutdown on Wednesday, U.S. cotton producers see additional impact to critical services, according to a statement from the National Cotton Council on Tuesday. 

Victoria’s Secret & Co. expects a $100 million tariff impact this year after already finding ways to mitigate it by about $70 million, per its second quarter earnings release in August. Even so, the company maintained its adjusted operating income guidance.