Victoria’s Secret in China: What Brands Can Still Learn From the Story in 2026

A French lingerie brand founder came to me asking how to enter China’s lingerie market. “Study Victoria’s Secret,” I told her. “Both chapters.” There are lessons in the success and in the failure, and they point to the same truth about what it takes to build a lasting brand in China.

Victoria’s Secret’s China story is the most instructive case study in Chinese fashion retail from the last decade. Not because it ended perfectly — it didn’t — but because it reveals exactly what the Chinese lingerie market rewards and what it punishes.

Chapter 1: How Victoria’s Secret Got China Right

Premium Positioning in an Underdeveloped Market

When Victoria’s Secret opened its first physical store in Shanghai in 2015 — 2,500 square meters on Huaihai Road — they were betting on a market just beginning to develop. China’s lingerie market was worth 30 billion USD at the time, double the US market, but dominated by functional, low-cost products. VS brought aspiration to a category that had never had it in China.

Chinese Celebrity Ambassadors From the Start

Zhou Dongyu and Yang Mi as brand ambassadors was a textbook China market entry move. Both were tier-one Chinese actresses with massive Weibo followings and the credibility to make Victoria’s Secret feel relevant to Chinese women, not just aspirationally Western. The campaigns balanced sophistication and comfort — a deliberate pivot from the pure-sexuality positioning that had worked in the US market.

20 Stores in Five Years

By 2020, Victoria’s Secret had 20 stores in China across tier-1 and tier-2 cities. Combined with a strong Tmall flagship, they were the dominant international premium lingerie brand in China. They had done what most Western fashion brands fail to do: moved fast enough to own a position before domestic competitors could occupy it.

Chapter 2: What Went Wrong

The 2017 fashion show attempt in Shanghai collapsed under model visa denials, political sensitivities around some cast members, and insufficient local event planning expertise. The show was never broadcast in China. For a brand that had spent two years building cultural relevance with Chinese consumers, the non-broadcast was a significant setback.

The deeper problem was strategic. By the early 2020s, VS had not meaningfully adapted its brand narrative for the values of the Chinese women it was targeting. The “Angel” aesthetic — narrow beauty standards, American-specific references — was losing relevance as Chinese consumers developed stronger cultural confidence. The domestic brands that grew up in VS’s shadow understood this shift better than VS did.

Chapter 3: What Domestic Brands Built on VS’s Foundation

Victoria’s Secret raised the ceiling for what Chinese women expected from lingerie. When VS pulled back from aggressive China expansion, Neiwai, Ubras, and Bananain captured the market with products that offered the same aspiration — quality, design, brand identity — without the cultural dissonance. In 2026, these three brands collectively command more of the Chinese premium lingerie market than any international brand.

The French founder I mentioned entered China with a body-positive positioning aligned with how Chinese women actually think about themselves in 2026, partnered with Xiaohongshu-native KOLs rather than celebrity ambassadors, and avoided any event strategy that had not been pre-cleared with a local partner. She is building her third year in the market without a major incident.

Our Xiaohongshu team handles brand positioning for fashion brands in China. Our luxury team works with brands in the premium segment navigating the shift away from Western luxury norms.

Philip Chen is co-founder of GMA (Gentlemen Marketing Agency) and has spent 15 years building fashion and lifestyle brands in China. He works with international brands entering or scaling in the Chinese market. Connect on LinkedIn.

Sources: Xiaohongshu Marketing | Luxury Agency China