Victoria’s Secret Launches Optimistic, Size- & Gender-Inclusive Children’s Brand
Image via Happy Nation
Victoria’s Secret & Co. is purposefully walking the opposite way of its problematic past. In its rebirth, it has rebranded its lingerie label as a body-positive entity, as well as recruited a more diverse cast including its first model with Down syndrome and first male ambassador.
A significant slice of the new Victoria’s Secret identity is gender-neutral—a far cry from the hypersexualized, angel-centered approach that it had so stubbornly promoted in a former life. Pushing this stance forward is Happy Nation, an all-new, gender-free fashion brand for children ages eight to 13.
Happy Nation is named after a vision to encourage positivity and inclusivity for young consumers, according to an Ad Age report. Fully designed for tweens, it stands as a wholly separate brand from the rest of Victoria’s Secret’s portfolio.
Items include tees, sweatshirts, swimsuits, underwear, and body care products. They’re also size-inclusive, with a gamut of eight sizes running from small through XL+.
Image via Happy Nation
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Aligning itself with the progressive views of Gen Z and Gen Alpha, Happy Nation will immerse a focus on sustainability into its body care products, which include a vegan body wash that’s free of dyes, parabens, and palm oil. All body care bottles are recyclable and constructed from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic.
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Having been notoriously out of touch with customers’ expectations in the past, Victoria’s Secret & Co consulted experts, including parents of tweens, “to ensure everything from its creative, to photography and social media communications foster a safe, inclusive and supportive environment.”
At least for now, Happy Nation has no plans to launch in physical locations and will operate digitally. With this, it’s eyeing new ways to reach out to the younger generation—most notably through the metaverse in a partnership with age-appropriate virtual world platform Roblox. More traditional methods will be used to communicate with parents and guardians.
“We heard from tweens and their parents that they felt like there isn’t an apparel or beauty brand that celebrates and lends a helping hand in their personal evolution,” describes Claudine Rankin, GM at Happy Nation. “As a mother, I feel a deep responsibility to be intentional about every decision behind this brand… and we hope Happy Nation can provide the authenticity that younger generations crave, while offering comfy clothing and body care products that kids and their parents can feel good about.”
Ish Patel, chief operating officer of digital at Victoria’s Secret & Co., stresses that Happy Nation will not venture into “sexy” like the Victoria’s Secret label, Ad Age reports. Happy Nation’s demographic is “a different age bracket altogether,” Patel adds.
“This is a new demographic for us, so we’ll be continually gathering feedback as more people get to know Happy Nation,” says Susan Anderson, vice president of creative at Happy Nation. “We want to make sure we’re engaging in ways that feel authentic to and resonate with our Happy Crew.”
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Image via Happy Nation
[via Ad Age, Retail Dive, Globenewswire, images via Happy Nation]
