SKIMS wants a slice of wellness.
What’s happening: Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand added $225M in new funding led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives, bringing its valuation to $5B.
Watch list. Set to surpass $1B in net sales this year, it’ll use fresh capital to expand its activewear focus and retail presence. It’s also plotting a beauty relaunch, tapping Diarrha N’Diaye—founder of shuttered clean makeup brand for melanin-rich skin, Ami Colé—as EVP.
Keeping up. Staying active, it dropped its first NikeSKIMS collection this year, partnered with women’s volleyball league LOVB, and nurtured relationships with the NBA/WNBA — with its ads performing 3,309% better than the average WNBA advertiser.
Media play. Co-founded by Kardashian and the Grede family in 2019, the brand is also benefitting from the modern founder-led media landscape, combining reality TV royalty with Emma Grede’s rising rep as a personal development podcaster.
Punchline: A smart evolution, SKIMS built on the promise of making people feel good in their bodies. Now, the brand is becoming a sporty SPANX, leveraging its Nike deal to seize a missed opportunity by Under Armour. Next, clean beauty x skincare could round out the lifestyle.
