Vera Bradley, the Fort Wayne, Ind.-based brand known for its quilted handbags and vivid prints, is beginning to win back once-loyal shoppers and to capture new ones.
“We’ve stabilized things. We’re putting in place pillars for growth, and now can really start to focus on the future,” said Ian Bickley, Vera Bradley’s chief executive officer, in an interview with WWD on Thursday, after the company reported a reduced loss and revenue gains for the first quarter ended May 2.
“This was a milestone quarter for us,” said Bickley. “It was the first quarter where we returned to positive growth since our fourth quarter of fiscal 2022. But it wasn’t just a topline story. We improved our gross margin by 430 basis points, reduced [selling, general and administrative expenses] by $5.6 million, a 15 percent reduction, and that really is what fueled our reduced operating loss.”
For the quarter ended May 2, Vera Bradley Inc.’s net loss from continuing operations totaled $4.8 million, or 17 cents a diluted share, compared with losses of $18 million, or 66 cents, a year earlier.
The operating loss from continuing operations declined to $4.6 million, or 8.3 percent of net revenues, compared to a loss of $17.9 million, or 34.6 percent of revenues.
Consolidated revenues from continuing operations totaled $55.7 million, up from $51.7 million in the year-ago quarter.
Bickley told WWD that inventories were reduced by 26 percent to $73 million, the lowest level since fiscal 2011 and down from $99.2 million a year ago.
The company maintained its sales projection of $255 million to $270 million for 2026, but projects an operating loss improvement of at least 50 percent, versus the prior-year loss of $21.7 million, after previously forecasting at least 40 percent.
“We still have a lot of work in front of us. This is going to be a multiyear journey,” Bickley said.
He said the Project Sunshine transformation strategy, launched in 2024, centers on stabilizing the top line, maintaining a very sharp focus on product, including refocusing on cotton, establishing “a best-in-class” team, improving margins by being disciplined on pricing and promotions, cost reductions, and closing weak stores. “I’m feeling like we’ve made a tremendous amount of progress in a relatively short period of time.”
For back-to-school, “We have a real opportunity to capture share of customers’ wallet,” through backpack innovation and a stronger “core inventory position” on backpacks after experiencing stockouts last year, as well as personalization efforts. Also, Vera Bradley is launching its back-to-school offering on Tuesday, three weeks earlier than last year. “We feel we missed part of the season last year by starting later.” Product distribution has been widening, including now selling in all Nordstrom doors and on Nordstrom.com with a capsule collection, as well as some “foundational changes” to visual merchandising.
He said reclaiming Vera Bradley’s “joyful optimism — the DNA of the brand,” and sharpening the brand image by bringing back classic “hero” Vera Bradley silhouettes and prints is central to the strategy, which also includes reemphasizing cotton, strengthening social marketing, more disciplined pricing and promotion, closing weak stores, strengthening collaborations with Disney, Star Wars and attracting younger audiences.
“We will be looking to rebuild our retail fleet, and that means continuing to close underperforming stores that really aren’t relevant to us, while selectively opening stores,” Bickley said.
“At our premium outlets, where we have adjacencies often with luxury or accessible luxury brands, the opportunity is to elevate the whole customer experience, including having a much clearer category focus, enhanced visual elements, and a reduced [stock keeping unit] count.”
Bickley became Vera Bradley’s CEO in March after serving as executive chairman and being involved in the transformation. Earlier, he was president of international group at Coach, and interim CEO of The Body Shop, where he helped complete the sale of the company.
