Skims to Help Boost Nike Women’s Business with New Brand

Nike’s women’s business is about to see the power of the Kardashian brand as the two revealed their new NikeSkims line on Tuesday. 

The brand will launch in the U.S. with a Spring 2025 collection before rolling out globally next year. NikeSkims will be sold online and a limited roster of retailers, although neither company disclosed specific locations. 

“We’re energized by the opportunity to build a new brand and shake things up for the next generation of athletes with NikeSkims,” Nike President of Consumer, Product and Brand Heidi O’Neill said in a statement. 

It’s clear Nike aims to tap a broader consumer base via its link with Skims.

O’Neill went on to say the brand “will invite even more athletes” to the business.  

For Los Angeles-based Skims, it’s a big move into activewear with an established name and proprietary fabrications that will allow it to bypass the typical research-and-development timelines.

“Over the past five years, Skims has redefined the intimates and loungewear industry,” Skims co-founder and CEO Jens Grede said in a statement. “Now, by partnering with Nike, the undisputed leader in athletic performance and innovation, we’re poised to create a new standard in the global fitness and activewear market.” 

NikeSkims continues the rapid pace of growth set off by Skims when it launched in 2019. 

It began as a direct-to-consumer online business. Since then, it’s expanded into brick-and-mortar with locations in Georgetown, Aventura, Austin, Houston, Atlanta and New York. It’s also built up a robust wholesale business selling in Net-A-Porter, SSENSE, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Selfridges and Galeries Lafayette. 

Can Skims Revive Nike? 

For Nike, there’s a bit more at stake. 

It has a relatively new CEO in Elliott Hill, who replaced John Donahoe in October.  

Hill has his work cut out for him. 

The newly installed CEO said about as much during the company’s most recent earnings call with analysts in December. Hill said he and other executives met with partners, employers and consumers worldwide in a bid to understand where the business and brand were at.

“The consistent feedback we’ve heard is pretty simple,” Hill told analysts. “‘Let’s see more of Nike being Nike.’… Lately, we haven’t been maximizing these strengths. From everything I heard and observed, there are clear themes about the recent state of our business and where we need to go.”

Nike stumbled in more recent years with a lack of product innovation that was met with tepid interest from consumers. Its pullback from a number of retail partners, including Macy’s and Foot Locker, further complicated things as the company aimed to rely more heavily on direct-to-consumer sales. 

The strategy didn’t pan out as planned. 

In the most recent quarter, ended Nov. 30, Nike companywide revenue was $12.4 billion, down 9 percent excluding the impact of exchange rates. 

The Nike brand alone, the largest revenue driver, fell 8 percent in constant currency to $12 billion. 

All other divisions also saw revenue contract in the November quarter. 

Direct-to-consumer sales were off 14 percent to $5 billion, driven by a 21 percent drop in digital sales for the company’s namesake brand. Wholesale slipped 4 percent to $6.9 billion. 

Meanwhile, Nike-owned Converse saw sales reel 18 percent to $429 million.