Kim Kardashian built one of the fastest growing fashion brands when she co- founded SKIMS in September 2019. From a reality TV star to billion-dollar entrepreneur, her rise to fame and money has been mercurial. She stated that she had been designing shapewear for 15 years before co- founding the brand. SKIMS is more than shapewear – it’s a cultural phenomenon reshaping how women see comfort, inclusivity, and body confidence.
The brand was first announced as “Kimono” but faced backlash from the public, particularly in Japan. The name was subsequently changed to “SKIMS”.
The company sold out its initial 36 piece collection within 10 minutes. SKIMS quickly expanded beyond shapewear, and added underwear, loungewear, swimwear, and activewear to meet growing demands.
This blog traces the journey of SKIMS, Kim’s “why,”and what drives its success. As always the thrust is to find the key takeaways that can help women entrepreneurs build better businesses.
A Little About SKIMS
Founded in 2019 by Kim Kardashian & Jens Grede, SKIMS has achieved unique positioning by creating inclusive, comfortable, and high- performing intimate apparel that addresses real consumer needs by offering a personalized experience with a wide range of sizes and shades across shapewear, underwear, loungewear, and swimwear. SKIMS is a breakaway brand from the exclusive norms of traditional intimate wear brands.
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In July 2023, SKIMS surpassed $4 billion in valuation, making Kim a billionaire entrepreneur. By leveraging pop culture and social media, the brand managed to create massive demand with features like waitlists for popular items.
The company has seen consistent and strong revenue growth, with projected sales of $750 million in 2023. SKIMS is now a strong candidate for a potential initial public offering (IPO) in the near future.
SKIMS has a multifaceted distribution system combining a direct- to- consumer e-commerce platform with retail partnerships, physical stores, and autonomous warehouse robots to improve efficiency, and speed up fulfillment. SKIMS is able to control its brand experience, reach customers through various channels including its own website, select department stores like Nordstrom and Selfridges, and its branded retail locations.
Kim Kardashian’s Background and Why She Started SKIMS
Kim Kardashian gained public attention through her family reality show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which launched her career in media and entrepreneurship. She leveraged her reality TV fame to build an enviable business empire, founding successful brands like SKIMS, KKW beauty and perfumes,while pursuing activism, particularly for prison reform.
Kim was always dissatisfied with shapewear not fitting her needs. She is stated to have mentioned that she’d alter her own shapewear and bases to match her skin tone and provide comfort. SKIMS was founded out of her personal need to get shapewear that was functional and inclusive, and appealed to a variety of skin tones and sizes.
The gap in the market identified, SKIMS commitment to body positivity, a minimal aesthetic, coupled with clever marketing leveraging Kim’s celebrity influence, took the brand from strength to strength. The brand uses social media, and a direct-to-consumer model with weekly product drops.
SKIMS is the translation of every woman’s need to find flattering fits in her shapewear, and at the same time, have pieces that compliments her skin tone. The brand is renowned for its wide range of sizes ranging from XXS to %X, and a multitude of skin tone offerings.
Beyond shapewear, the brand offers loungewear, swimwear, and everyday essentials.
Why SKIMS is a Success
Here’s why SKIMS has turned into a success:
1. Personal Pain Point Turned Global Brand
Kim built SKIMS from her personal pain point. The personal story added to the authenticity of the brand. From cutting and sewing her own pieces to get the best fit, she brought to the market shapewear that fitted effortlessly, and seamlessly against all body types, and different skin tones. From writhing into shapeless shapewear to ones that come in sizes from XXS to 5X, there is a rainbow to choose frown – both, for fit, and for a befitting color to match the skin tone.
2. Clever Marketing and High-Impact Collaborations
After the initial leverage riding on her reality TV fame, the brand now has a standalone place for the quality it brings to shapewear. Clever marketing strategies like weekly drops as ‘limited edition’ creates a sense of urgency, giving the brand the traction required for better visibility, and sales thereafter.
Another good move by the brand has been to collaborate with ubiquitous brands like Fendi, Dolce& Gabbana, Swarovski, and becoming the official partner of the NBA, WNBA, and USA Basketball. The brand has partnered with Nike to launch a new active wear brand, NikeSKIMS, and has collaborated with celebrity musicians like Rosalia and pop star Sabrina Carpenter.
3. Community Engagement and Social Media-First Growth
SKIMS uses platforms like Instagram and TikTok for community engagement through visual storytelling. This is paired with strategic collaborations and campaigns to maintain relevance, and drive sales, as seen in their partnerships with celebrities and luxury brands.
The brand leverages influencer marketing, creating hype with a “drop model” of limited releases, integrating them with cultural moments and celebrities to maintain buzz, and demand.
4. Hybrid Retail Strategy for Wider Reach
Starting as a DTC brand, SKIMS has adopted a hybrid retail model that includes strategic physical retail presence through pop-up shops, premium shop-in-shops at department stores like Nordstrom and Selfridges, and its own flagship stores in high- traffic locations worldwide.
The hybrid strategy helps them to get the benefits of D2C, like in terms of control over the brand experience, and direct customer relationship. At the same time, the hybrid model helps them in expanding their reach, building more credibility, and capturing the significant offline market share.
5. Mid-Range to Premium Pricing Strategy
The brand’s price range is considered mid-range to premium, reflecting their focus on quality materials and innovative designs across their wide variety of products. A basic shapewear for instance, costs anything between $30 to $80. The more elaborate or special items cost $100 or more. The brand maintains its image of staying aspirational but attainable.
6. Expanding Product Categories Beyond Shapewear
The brand has on offer not just shapewear as of recent times but also, swimwear, bodysuits, sweaters, dresses, lingerie, loungewear, and even a men’s line. Not just the range, there are also several categories offered in their collections such as Seamless Sculpt, Fits Everybody, and Cotton Rib. Each of their products are meant to be flattering, both the body shapes. And skin tones.
Lessons for Women Entrepreneurs Building Similar Brands
Building out a shapewear brand in a competitive market, here are some lessons to takeaway from SKIMS:
1. Identify a Problem and Build a Solution Around It
When you identify a problem, and own it as something that you’d like to address, it could be the start of a new venture. Like Kim who identified the gap in the market, and brought to her fans SKIMS that addressed the woes of all women who’d been on the lookout of flattering shapewear to be body positive. If you talk about what bothers you, chances are that others have been in that place too.
2. Add Your Personal Narrative for Credibility
Adding your personal narrative is always a good idea when you start a business. It brings you more credibility. When celebrities like Kim talk about their struggles, the difficulties become more relatable. Bringing in merchandise that takes care of consumers of all sizes, style, and color to feel happy in their bodies, is no easy task but SKIMS is an example of how need drives innovation, and brings solutions to the table.
3. Leverage Social Media for Visibility
If you are someone who has a good social media presence, use it to gain visibility, and credibility. Share relevant posts, and keep your audience engaged by feeding their curiosity. Share videos, pictures,and keep the postings regular.
4. Create Hype and Build a Loyal Community
Creating a buzz around your products by putting them under categories such as ‘limited edition’, ‘festive edition’, and other such helps to create demand and spike sales. Look at collaborating with celebrities/ influencers to get your brand more traction.
Try to build a community of loyal customers who will come to your brand for how it keeps evolving with their changing needs. Terms like ‘inclusivity’ work well for businesses, and is an exercise in trust building.
5. Expand into Adjacent Categories to Grow Your Brand
SKIMS addressed a need, and was lapped up by those in search of upgrading to better shapewear. Though the brand started from shapewear, it soon expanded into adjacent categories to benefit from their established name and credibility for trouble-shooting wardrobe woes into all kinds of wear for women- lounge, swim, and so on, and even a range for men.
Conclusion
The world has witnessed major turnabouts in all kinds of industry whenever a personal need has become the pivot for research, and innovation. In Kim’s case was her need for better shapewear for herself. Likewise, there is a calling for everyone – it just needs to be identified, and then, followed by actions that address it in totality.
Kim Kardashian proves women entrepreneurs can transform influence into long-term business empires by combining authenticity, inclusivity, and innovation.
The biggest takeaway here is to build from personal truth, stay culturally relevant, and scale strategically. Stay with us for more stories that will fuel your ambition. Subscribe and never miss out on a post!
