Along with this focus, we are also continuing to evaluate our entire cost basis and sourcing needs to continue to find efficiencies to drive margin expansion over time. We have recently engaged McKenzie to help us with this evaluation as well as a review of our pricing architecture, operating expenses, and overall working capital needs. Before I close, I want to thank all of our teams for their continued hard work and dedication as we have entered this new chapter for Vince. With our strengthened financial position and enhanced focus on our strategic growth initiatives, I believe we are well-positioned to deliver long-term success. With that, let me introduce our Interim CFO, Michael Hand, Michael joined us earlier this summer, bringing significant experience leading financial and accounting teams across retail, wholesale, and e-commerce businesses.
As we continue our search for a permanent CFO, I am pleased to have his ongoing support in leading our finance and accounting organization. Now I will turn it over to Michael to review our financial results in more detail. Michael?
Michael Hand : Thank you, Jack, and good morning, everyone. I am pleased to be here and working with the Vince team during this exciting time. As Jack discussed, the second quarter was an important one for the company both as we strengthened our financial position following the transaction with Authentic and as we began to drive operational improvements through our enhanced focus on our strategic initiatives across the business. Before I review our financial results in more detail, as a reminder, this is the first quarter that reflects the impact of our partnership with Authentic. As noted in our press release, our second quarter results benefited from a $32 million gain on the sale of the Vince IP, partially offset by $2 million in transaction-related expenses.
In addition, we have begun to pay royalties to ABG Vince, which will now be recorded in cost of goods sold, and we have officially transferred our licensing business for footwear and soft accessories to Authentic in accordance with the terms of the agreement. The impact from these items was partially offset by the initial earnings attributed to our 25% ownership of ABG Vince and going forward, we expect to also benefit from the lower interest expense given our reduction in debt. Turning now to our results in more detail. Total company net sales for the second quarter decreased 22.1% to $69.4 million compared to $89.2 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2022. The year-over-year decrease was driven by a 98.7% decrease in Rebecca Taylor and Parker combined net sales due to the previously announced wind down of the Rebecca Taylor business which is now complete and also a 14.3% decrease in Vince brand sales.
The Vince brand net sales decrease was driven by year-over-year declines in both our wholesale and direct-to-consumer segments. As Jack discussed, our top-line performance was impacted by macro-related headwinds and the strategic decision to pull back on our off-price business within our wholesale channel. In addition to this decision, our wholesale performance was also impacted by the later timing of select fall deliveries compared to last year. The transfer of the licensing business for footwear and soft accessories as well as ongoing cautiousness in the channel. In direct-to-consumer, we continue to see outperformance in our stores compared to e-commerce, but we are pleased with the overall sequential improvement in the segment compared to the first quarter.
Gross profit in the second quarter was $32.3 million or 46.6% of net sales. This compares to $36.4 million or 40.8% of net sales in the second quarter of last year. The increase in gross margin rate was driven by lower freight costs, favorable year-over-year adjustments to inventory reserves, as well as approximately 120 basis points related to the wind-down of the Rebecca Taylor business, which historically operated at a lower overall gross margin and partially offset by approximately 320 basis points of royalty expenses associated with the licensing agreement with Authentic. Selling, general, and administrative expenses in the quarter were $31.5 million or 45.4% of net sales as compared to $39 million or 43.7% of net sales for the second quarter of last year.
