Mannequins displaying shapewear at a Skims pop-up shop at the Nordstrom flagship store in New York, US, on Sunday, June 9, 2024.
Bing Guan | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Nike has teamed up with Kim Kardashian’s intimates brand Skims to launch a new line of activewear as the legacy sneaker giant looks to win over more women and better compete with Lululemon, Alo Yoga and Vuori, the companies announced Tuesday.
The new brand, dubbed NikeSKIMS, will include apparel, footwear and accessories. It will debut its initial collection this spring, with a global rollout planned for 2026. It is not clear what exactly the products will look like or what items will be included in the initial collection. The only image contained in Nike’s announcement was a graphic of the new brand’s logo.
Nike’s partnership with Skims, the buzzy shapewear brand created by Kardashian and Swedish entrepreneur Jens Grede, the brand’s CEO, comes as Nike looks to claw back the market share it has lost to upstart competitors and bring more women into the brand.
A new activewear line with the Skims name attached will give Nike an in with the types of shoppers who are buying activewear from Lululemon and newer competitors such as Alo Yoga and Vuori, which cater more to women than Nike currently does.
Nike has said previously that about 40% of its customers are women, but most apparel brands prefer to have more female consumers than male because they tend to shop more and spend more on clothes. Plus, this gender gap has allowed Nike’s competitors to get a foothold in the athletic apparel business, which could be a growth opportunity for the sneaker giant. In fiscal 2024, apparel only represented about 28% of Nike brand revenue.
Nike debuted a new ad campaign geared toward female athletes during the Super Bowl, its first big game advertisement in decades. The campaign, called “So Win,” highlights female athletes such as gymnast Jordan Chiles and Women’s National Basketball Association stars Caitlin Clark and Sabrina Ionescu. The spot touched on the challenges women have faced in sports and called on them to win, even though they have been told what they can’t do and who they shouldn’t be.
The campaign made it clear that reaching female athletes and capturing the buzz currently surrounding women’s sports will be a focal point of Nike’s strategy under its new CEO Elliott Hill. Not only will the Skims partnership allow Nike to better compete for women, but it will also bring in a new product line at a time when the company has been accused of falling behind on innovation and churning out the same legacy styles that are no longer exciting to consumers.
For Skims, which was last valued at $4 billion, the Nike partnership and access to its manufacturing and development capabilities brings a growth opportunity for a brand that is popular but still relatively small compared to competitors. Other intimates brands, such as Victoria’s Secret, have tried and largely failed to branch into activewear, so Skims might be able to prove itself a winner in the space with Nike by its side.
Plus, it bodes well for an initial public offering, which Skims has been considering. If Skims can show that it has more growth opportunities and a strategic partner like Nike, a public debut will be an easier sell to investors who are cautious on consumer companies amid tariff concerns, persistent inflation and a pullback on discretionary spending.
Grede has said previously that the retailer deserves to be a public company, but he told WWD in December that it has not yet made a decision on an IPO.
