Victoria's Secret (Non-Model Related Discussions)

[PinkCouture]

The cotton panties are almost total crap these days, they used to last a decent enough amount of times now i feel like once you wash them three times they start looking terrible, which is why started buying Aerie and then i got done with the ugly pattern in the bras and went once again with Aerie. For me having a bright Pink leopard bra is almost useless, you can't use it with most of your clothes because it's just too bright.

From the fragrances i miss Supermodel, i look for it every SAS but i never get lucky. Same with Oh La La, but from the new ones SLT Noir & The Incredible are the best ones.

I think with the cotton panties it is not only the prints but also the pre-treatment and dying process they have been using recently.

I have a bright pink leopard bra from VS PINK I wear all the time under sweaters

I was at VS yesterday. The limited edition "Italian-inspired" scents were ok esp the Very Sexy one.

[Clauds]

Girl i live in Venezuela, i wear a sweater once or twice a year maybe Which is why my Pink leopard has been waiting to get some use for the past months.

The problem with cotton panties that have lace is that the lace is really crappy these days, even if you hand wash them it will start to look worse & worse and in three or two months they look like crap.

[PinkCouture]

^ Some of the bras w/ bolder colors and prints work well w/ certain peek a-boo styles

Are you talking about the cheekies w/ lace trims and the ones w/ the mesh/lace back? Those have never worked well for me Either the lace rips or it gets all crinkly & contracted after I wash them.

[Clauds]

I'm talking about these ones http://www.victoriassecret.com/panties/all-styles/lace-waist-cheeky-panty-cotton-lingerie?ProductID=87923&CatalogueType=OLS & also these http://www.victoriassecret.com/panties/all-styles/lace-trim-cheeky-panty-very-sexy?ProductID=84555&CatalogueType=OLS they used to work just fine for me but lately the lace's quality is so poor that rips after washing them one of twice

I still love the Pink clothing though as well as the pijamas, the sleepshirts are my official outfit for a lazy Sunday

[katchitup]

Aerie is pretty good too....They're a refreshing change sometimes from VS...Aerie's got really cute workout gear too!

And I know what lace panties your all talking about, and I don't know if I've been buying from the best VS in the world or something but those things have NEVER torn on me! Honestly, I have never had a bra or a pantie from VS tear or rip on me period! (and yes, I do wash my clothes )

....

I wonder if the economy had to do with the lowing quality/raising prices to save money and gain more profit?

I think you are right! (Y)

They were like this (except pink, leopard and sparkley) and they had that super thin, running short material. Don't know what its called But yes could be used as PJ shorts indeed. Heck, if I bought them most times they probably would be

Polyester mesh?

The ones I have are neon pink with pink sparkly leopard prints side panels. It does have a polyester lining butnot mesh.

Damn it! Wish I knew where I put them so I can take a pict

Hmmmmm I don't know.....I know of that material but it wasn't that. It was like suuuppper thin running material. It was like that polyester mesh without the air wholes

Darn fabrics and that print though sounds like the one I saw!

[PinkCouture]

I'm talking about these ones http://www.victorias...talogueType=OLS & also these http://www.victorias...talogueType=OLS they used to work just fine for me but lately the lace's quality is so poor that rips after washing them one of twice

I still love the Pink clothing though as well as the pijamas, the sleepshirts are my official outfit for a lazy Sunday

Yes those and also these: http://www.victorias...talogueType=OLS

I had a pair of the black ones. The seams started to come lose and some of the lacing ripped in the wash

I PINK apparel too! Speaking of which, I got 2 pairs of these a few months ago b/c they were on sale (sequin sides and lace sides - no longer available): http://www.victorias...talogueType=OLS

I have gotten so many compliments from wearing them I recommend these leggings for anyone who is looking for something less plain but not over the top

[PinkCouture]

Aerie is pretty good too....They're a refreshing change sometimes from VS...Aerie's got really cute workout gear too!

And I know what lace panties your all talking about, and I don't know if I've been buying from the best VS in the world or something but those things have NEVER torn on me! Honestly, I have never had a bra or a pantie from VS tear or rip on me period! (and yes, I do wash my clothes )

About a year ago I got a coupon for a free pair of hiphuggers from Aerie. I must say they are surprisingly well-made & comfy!

I haven't tried their bras yet though.

[katchitup]

^VS has some pretty cute workout gear! Their yogas are the best Also been getting some cute bandeaus from them as well (finally found use for those things ). Aerie has cute ones too!

[PinkCouture]

I agree, VS loves over padding things When I was working there customers would complain how everything is over-padded. I don't get it why they would keep on making all these push-up bras when they are all the same when it comes down to it, and it seems like they are neglecting the fact that a lot of women just want a simple bra.

Haven't tried anything from VSX yet.

I do like VS' bandeaus esp. the plain ones which I think they no longer sell.

[ilovethebeach]

I agree, VS loves over padding things When I was working there customers would complain how everything is over-padded. I don't get it why they would keep on making all these push-up bras when they are all the same when it comes down to it, and it seems like they are neglecting the fact that a lot of women just want a simple bra.

Haven't tried anything from VSX yet.

I do like VS' bandeaus esp. the plain ones which I think they no longer sell.

I agree, it seems the only not over padded bra is the Cotton one... And the Pink bra's aren't that padded either I think.

But I wonder why VS likes to add so much padding to their bra's? I had the Miraculous bra, and let me tell you, it was just... ridiculous!! xD The padding in that bra is seriously just over the top. Not comfortable at all!

[Clauds]

The padding lately is just ridiculous. And it doesn't even make your breast look good, I feel like they make you look completely fake and I don't like that. If they wan't to do ONE bra with that much padding, then fine have the Miraculous be the bra with the biggest padding on earth but leave the others bra normal? With enough padding to give you a nice lift but without making you feel uncomfortable

[Brandiexoxo]

I love the yogas! Just bought a few pairs yesterday in boot cut since I need to start working out again yaayyyyy

[PinkCouture]

"Early Access" to the SAS: http://www.victoriassecret.com/clearance/earlyaccess?cm_mmc=di-_-5281343ANGEL-_-V01-_-v13

Open to the general public online tomorrow. In store starting June 11th

[PinkCouture]

Ok, show us what you got at the SAS (Summer 2013) Here's what I got online:

I went to a store yesterday. Couldn't find anything I liked enough to purchased. Although it was suppose to be a "clearance" a lot of the stuff were still on the pricey side

I wanted to buy some concealer but was not in the mood to dig through the messy bins.

Maybe I will check out another store soon and see do they have better a selection of products

[katchitup]

^Cute! what did you get in the erin pic?

Once again, always a big score on their beauty products, I always get a bunch of parfumes, and lotions :brows: getting these huge tubs of Pink body scrub for like $5 is awesome

Anyone know when the SAS ends?

[PinkCouture]

^ The hoodie. I thought it came with the vest but it didn't. It was just $10 so whatever

I would have gotten some beauty products but then I remember I have enough body splashes, body wash, lotions, and etc. to last me a lifetime

It ends on June 24th

[katchitup]

^ The hoodie. I thought it came with the vest but it didn't. It was just $10 so whatever

I would have gotten some beauty products but then I remember I have enough body splashes, body wash, lotions, and etc. to last me a lifetime

It ends on June 24th

I see!

And yayy. I still got more time :brows: :brows:

[PinkCouture]

See, working at VS isn't as glamorous as it seems

Underwire Under Fire: Victoria’s Secret Employees Win $2 Raise

At the Victoria’s Secret flagship location in Manhattan’s Herald Square, where all three floors are frequently packed with customers, a single bra can sell for $58 and customers often drop hundreds of dollars in a single spree. Yet wages for the company’s New York City retail workers can start at less than $10 an hour, and employees say unreliable scheduling means that a consistent paycheck is never a guarantee.

After an employee-led campaign against the location’s district manager, however, Victoria’s Secret employees are beginning to see improvements. Workers at the Herald Square store recently received raises of as much as two dollars an hour. Led by a small cohort of veteran employees who felt mistreated by years of low pay, fluctuating schedules and a dearth of advancement opportunities, the campaign consisted of letters to management, petition cards signed by more than one hundred employees and an online petition.

The employees were assisted in their efforts by a local workers’ center, the Retail Action Project (RAP), which is affiliated with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) and which collaborated with Victoria’s Secret workers as part of its “Just Hours” campaign to organize retail workers in New York. In January of 2012, with CUNY’s Murphy Institute, the project released a report on working conditions in the sector that found that “approximately one-third of [the 436] surveyed retail employees support family members on their wages, yet the median wage for surveyed workers is only $9.50 an hour”—nearly impossible to survive on in Manhattan, and right in line with many starting salaries at Victoria’s Secret.

“We went to them because we needed better hours for ourselves, and better pay,” says one of the members of the organizing committee, who asked that In These Times refer to her only by her first initial, D. D., 27, has been working in the Victoria’s Secret megastore since October 2010.

With the help of the center, D. and two of her coworkers delivered an unsigned letter expressing employees’ grievances about pay, scheduling and promotions to their store manager. The trio of workers also began collecting petition cards and asking their coworkers for signatures of support. Within two weeks of the first letter, the workers delivered a second one, this time including a half dozen signatures from the newly expanded organizing committee and demanding a meeting with the manager to discuss their complaints by the following week.

Once a group of workers had put their names on the letter, committee leaders say that management began to retaliate. Organizers report that experienced employees were temporarily put in entry-level positions, and some signers’ hours were cut. “The [week after we delivered the letter] I had probably only ten hours, and that was never the case [before],” D. explains. “I’ve never, never dropped that low.” According to D., management claimed that falling sales had led to the schedule changes, but she saw them as a warning. In addition to her reduced hours, she was separated from the rest of the workforce in the stock room and tasked with multiple employees’ jobs at once without help. “I felt like they were trying to isolate me from everybody else,” she says.

In addition to this pushback, D. and representatives from RAP say that the corporation’s Ohio headquarters began a strong anti-union campaign to head off any formal organizing. Despite management’s reported continued refusal to meet with the workers’ committee as a group, employees say human resources representatives began to survey the shop floor about working conditions. Limited Brands, the company that owns Victoria’s Secret, did not respond when called for comment.

“After that,” remembers D., “they started having meetings with everyone in the store.” The minor agitation appeared to have conjured fears of unionization: The representatives began holding mandatory anti-union meetings, says D., telling employees “that they want your dues.”

“But that was never the case,” D. explains. “We never said anything about a union, but [management] scared everyone. So we lost a lot of people that were following us, because they thought that we were lying to them, and that the company was right.”

In spite of these setbacks, the group continued its push for improvements. After an online petition became the basis for the workers’ third letter to management, the company announced at the beginning of August that it would increase wages across the board, with the raises scaled to seniority. This meant the veteran core of the organizing committee would receive high bumps. The company claimed that the change was in response to a yearly employee satisfaction survey given months prior. Many employees, however, feel that their protests were a direct factor in the decision. “They do [the survey] every year,” D. explains, “But this was the first time it’s ever had any kind of action afterwards ... We know that it wasn’t [the survey], because they didn’t really have a reason to [raise pay] until we actually started speaking up.” When contacted for this story, representatives from the store would not respond for comment.

Unfortunately, this small victory doesn’t encompass all of the employees’ demands. Though the company has conceded wage increases, it maintains tight labor control over workers. Such forms of control—giving weeklong schedules just a few days in advance, refusing to guarantee hours and often requiring workers to be available “on call” for periods he or she may not work—have become standard practice in retail. “Companies have these very sophisticated [software] systems,” explains Susan Lambert, Associate Professor in the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration, who says these sorts of retail practices, which started in the 1970s, have accelerated in recent years. She says that companies today try to manage store traffic in “such a fine-tuned way that it just produces all this instability and low hours for individual workers.”

“The new part of [this change] is this ability to be able to track in real-time sales and traffic,” she explains. These analytic tools for managing labor costs have, in turn, transformed business practices, with labor budgets tied to variables as diverse as the weather, season, and NCAA playoff schedules.

The overall effect, Lambert says, is that employers “keep a high head count so that they have a large pool workers who they can draw on to work short shifts of work, and who are hungry for hours.” Because of this pool’s high turnover rate, Lambert refers to them as a “Dixie Cup workforce”—large in numbers, but ultimately temporary. In her research, Lambert has also found that companies aren’t using the available technologies to their full potential. “The systems themselves are so customizable,” she says. “It’s not the [software] vendors who are driving this. A lot of them are really frustrated by firms not using a lot of the capacities, which are things like allowing workers to trade schedules themselves, setting a minimum number of hours, or shift length.”

Such is the case at the Victoria’s Secret Herald Square store, where D. says workers are still guaranteed no minimum weekly hours and reforms that have been implemented, such as shift trading, take place via break room bulletin board rather than online. And because of the frequent personnel flux, long-term improvements may be hard to sustain. Without a permanent oppositional structure voicing workers’ opinions within the firm—something more akin to a democratic union—the next cohort of shop floor leaders will have to begin anew to face the brunt of the corporation’s resistance. This testifies to the limitations of the worker center model, which can improve conditions but often has little staying power in the workplace. Since the raises were announced, two of the employees who helped D. organize the store have left the company, and D. herself plans to leave as soon as she can find something else. “This job was really supposed to be there until I could get a job that [required] my degree,” she says. “I didn’t go to school for retail.”

She is also skeptical about the gains, which hardly account for inflation and have no bearing on the unpredictability of work. “Right now everybody’s getting hours, everybody’s happy,” she says, “because it’s summertime when we get the most traffic ... We don’t know if it’s going to last.” Still, though, D. hopes that her group’s achievement will inspire other workers to stand up for themselves in the future. “You don’t want to be mistreated and think that it’s okay,” she says. “You shouldn’t have to ... feel mistreated just because you work in retail.”

inthesetimes.com

[PinkCouture]

Former Victoria's Secret Designer Helps Revitalize Down And Out Town
CBS-Philadelphia - Correspondent Mark Strassmann has the story of one woman and her single handed efforts to revitalize a down and out town in Alabama.
Video: http://screen.yahoo.com/former-victorias-secret-designer-helps-130600864.html