American Eagle becomes Victoria’s Secret’s unlikely rival

ORLANDO, Fla. — Forget jeans. It’s all about bras, undies and sleepwear at American Eagle Outfitters.

The Pittsburgh-based teen retailer is zeroing in on its small but red-hot Aerie brand — and is expected to amp up the expansion of the brand’s stand-alone stores.

And why not? In the three months ended Oct. 31, same-store sales of the Aerie brand soared 21 percent, bringing same-store sales over nine months to 17 percent.

American Eagle’s same-store sales gained just 9 percent in the period.

“Aerie can double in size,” Mary Boland, the company’s chief financial officer, told attendees at the ICR investment conference here.

The teen sleepwear and underwear sector is among the hottest in retail.

Victoria’s Secret Pink brand is one of the strongest lines in this sector for parent company L Brands and was responsible for sales gains there in the first nine months of its fiscal year, the company said in a regulatory filing.

With the added muscle behind Aerie, the two brands will likely wage a battle for the teen wallet in US malls.

Already, AEO’s executives are throwing around their sharp marketing elbows, claiming Aerie’s models are more “natural” and not as “touched up” as their rivals — without mentioning Pink by name, of course.

Ascena, the $10 billion company that owns Dressbarn, Lane Bryant and Ann Taylor, has a big headache with its pre-teen Justice brand. Over the past two years, it’s been a $50 million suck on the Mahwah, NJ, company’s bottom line.

But Chief Executive David Jaffe, speaking at the conference here, promised investors that “it will recover.”

The company reported overall holiday sales were off a disappointing 4 percent — but that Justice revenue tumbled 15 percent.

The plan to revive Justice involves “asking customers about our products and their pricing,” Jaffe told The Post. “We are making it more mom-friendly and less sparkly.”

Brinker International thinks booze can help its massive Chili’s franchise.

The Tex-Mex family restaurant chain, with nearly 1,600 stores in 31 countries, wants to ramp up alcohol sales at eateries, where adult beverages now account for 14 percent of revenues.

The Dallas-based restaurant wants to boost bar tabs closer to 20 percent of revenues, said CEO Wyman Roberts.

“We haven’t given specifics on our plan,” Roberts told The Post, “but we focus on beer and margaritas.”

Burgers, fries and shakes are still pumping up Shake Shack’s stock price, but the New York City company is readying itself for higher labor costs.

On Jan. 1, it started giving its hourly employees a $1 to $2 raise, to $10.50 and $12 an hour — with the higher rates applying to urban markets.

“We know $13-, $14- and $15-an-hour wages are coming,” Randy Garutti, chief executive of the 84-unit chain, told The Post.