Shapewear presentation models in a Pop-Up Skims boutique in Nordstrom Flagship Store in New York, in the United States, Sunday, June 9, 2024.
Bing Guan | Bloomberg | Getty images
Nike Associates itself with Kim Kardashian’s intimate brand to launch a new range of sports clothes while the Legacy sneakers giant seems to earn more women and better compete with LululemonAlo Yoga and Vuori, companies announced on Tuesday.
The new brand – nicknamed Nikeskims – will include clothing, shoes and accessories. It will start its initial collection this spring, with a global deployment planned for 2026. It is not clear what exactly the products or which items will be included in the initial collection. The only image contained in Nike’s announcement was a graphic of the new brand logo.
The Nike partnership with Skims, the Buzzy Shapewear brand created by Kardashian and the Swedish entrepreneur Jens Grede, the CEO of the brand, comes then that Nike seeks to back down the market share that it is lost in the face of advanced competitors and to bring more women to the brand.
A new line of sportswear with the names of the attached differences will give Nike one in the types of buyers who buy Lululemon sportswear and more recent competitors like Alo Yoga and Vuori, which are addressed more to women than Nike.
Nike previously said that around 40% of its customers are women, but most clothing brands prefer to have more consumers than men because they tend to buy more and spend more in clothes. In addition, this gap between the sexes has enabled Nike competitors to get started in the sportswear sector, which could be an opportunity for growth for the sneakers. During the year 2024, clothing represents only 28% of the Nike brand income.
Last week, Nike started a new advertising campaign for female athletes during the Super Bowl, its first big game ad for decades. The campaign, entitled “So Win”, highlights female athletes such as the Jordan Chiles gymnast and the WNBA features Caitlin Clark and Sabrina Ionescu. The place tackled the challenges that women were confronted in sport and called them to win, even if they were told what they could not do and which they should not be.
The campaign clearly said that female athletes and the capture of the buzz currently surrounding female 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 a new range of products at a time when the company has been accused of delaying innovation and producing the same inherited styles that are no longer exciting consumers.
For Skims, which was for the last time at $ 4 billion, the Nike partnership and access to its manufacturing and development capacities bring an opportunity for growth for a popular but always small brand compared to competitors. Other intimidating brands, such as Victoria’s Secrethave tried and largely failed to branch into sports clothes, so the gaps could be able to prove itself in space with Nike alongside it.
In addition, it augurs well for an IPO, which Skims considered. If Skims can show that it has more growth opportunities and a strategic partner like Nike, a public start will be easier to sell for investors who are cautious for consumer companies in the midst of tariff concerns, inflation persistent and a decline on discretionary expenses.
Grede said previously that the retailer deserved to be a public company, but he told WWD in December that it had not yet made a decision on a IPO.