Mannequins displaying shapewear at a Skims pop-up store on the Nordstrom flagship retailer in New York, US, on Sunday, June 9, 2024.
Bing Guan | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures
Nike has teamed up with Kim Kardashian’s intimates model Skims to launch a brand new line of activewear because the legacy sneaker big seems to win over extra girls and higher compete with Lululemon, Alo Yoga and Vuori, the businesses introduced Tuesday.
The brand new model – dubbed NikeSKIMS – will embody attire, footwear and equipment. It should debut its preliminary assortment this spring, with a world rollout deliberate for 2026. It isn’t clear what precisely the merchandise will appear to be or what objects shall be included within the preliminary assortment. The one picture contained in Nike’s announcement was a graphic of the brand new model’s emblem.
Nike’s partnership with Skims, the buzzy shapewear model created by Kardashian and Swedish entrepreneur Jens Grede, the model’s CEO, comes as Nike seems to claw again the market share it is misplaced to upstart opponents and convey extra girls into the model.
A brand new activewear line with the Skims title connected will give Nike an in with the kinds of consumers who’re shopping for activewear from Lululemon and newer opponents like Alo Yoga and Vuori, which cater extra to girls than Nike at the moment does.
Nike has mentioned beforehand that about 40% of its prospects are girls, however most attire manufacturers want to have extra feminine customers than male as a result of they have an inclination to buy extra and spend extra on garments. Plus, this gender hole has allowed Nike’s opponents to get a foothold within the athletic attire enterprise, which may very well be a development alternative for the sneaker big. In fiscal 2024, attire solely represented about 28% of Nike model income.
Final week, Nike debuted a brand new advert marketing campaign geared in direction of feminine athletes in the course of the Tremendous Bowl, its first huge recreation commercial in many years. The marketing campaign, known as “So Win,” highlights feminine athletes like gymnast Jordan Chiles and WNBA stars Caitlin Clark and Sabrina Ionescu. The spot touched on the challenges girls have confronted in sports activities and known as on them to win, although they have been informed what they can not do and who they should not be.
The marketing campaign made it clear that reaching feminine athletes, and capturing the thrill at the moment surrounding girls’s sports activities, shall be a focus of Nike’s technique beneath its new CEO Elliott Hill. Not solely will the Skims partnership enable Nike to raised compete for girls, it can additionally herald a brand new product line at a time when the corporate has been accused of falling behind on innovation and churning out the identical, legacy kinds which can be now not thrilling to customers.
For Skims, which was final valued at $4 billion, the Nike partnership and entry to its manufacturing and improvement capabilities brings a development alternative for a model that is widespread however nonetheless comparatively small in comparison with opponents. Different intimates manufacturers, similar to Victoria’s Secret, have tried and largely did not department into activewear, so Skims would possibly be capable of show itself a winner within the house with Nike by its aspect.
Plus, it bodes properly for an IPO, which Skims has been contemplating. If Skims can present that it has extra development alternatives and a strategic associate like Nike, a public debut shall be a neater promote to buyers who’re cautious on client corporations amid tariff considerations, persistent inflation and a pullback on discretionary spending.
Grede has mentioned beforehand the retailer deserves to be a public firm, however he informed WWD in December that it has not but decided on an IPO.
