Meh, as the last line in the article says, head of marketing is a 70yo guy who clearly can't talk about trans women without stepping on his p***s (and I'm surprised he wouldn't even have had someone to advise him who'd have a bit more sense about choosing words).
Then he can't do better than this in his apology? ...
QuoteWe've had transgender models come to castings... and like many others, they didn't make it... But it was never about gender. I admire and respect [blah blah blah]
(My point being, how could it be about their gender, they're women already, just not cis and at least some of us don't want admiration, just to be treated the same as anyone else).
Anyway, I think it speaks more to their perception of their market (which btw they seem to be losing really fast even without PR missteps). I think the VS brand is very much aimed at heteronormative women and expanded heavily into teen / tween market with the PINK label which I think is essentially aimed at the daughters of their established customers.
I think the VS clientele don't want to be shopping where trans women also shop. 15 years ago I was always refused access to their changing rooms, at least that's no longer the case, still I think that's their real motivation.
Other ways the brand hasn't kept up with times, if I go to any of their online retail competitors (herroom, bare necessities), I can easily find my cup size in larger band sizes (40B, 42B) where VS still only makes a "B" cup in 38 and smaller (it used to be nearly impossible to find even a 36B from them). It was of course worse when I was still and A cup.
Since they don't offer things that fit me I basically don't ever go there anymore.
