Nike SKIMS: A power move in progress.
Nike SKIMS is set to debut in the United States sometime in spring 2025, with a global expansion projected for 2026. Products are expected to be available at select retail locations, including wholesale partners and online at nike.com/NikeSKIMS. Nike SKIMS is the latest high-profile collaboration from the Oregon-based sportswear brand with strategic implications in the activewear space. If executed as intended, it could once again be an industry-defining move by Nike.
It is no secret that in recent times, some of Nike’s most prominent competitors in the world of women’s sportswear, like Lululemon and Fabletics, have begun to catch up. From a business perspective, this has translated to declining revenues and market value, which Nike is clearly keen to address. Enter Kim Kardashian, co-founder of SKIMS. A brand and IP that, when partnered with Nike, will have the rest of the industry on red alert as Nike SKIMS goes public.
Redefining the active wear narrative.
A successful collaboration for Nike has always been about scratching backs. Both parties certainly satisfy their itches through this collaboration — itches they couldn’t possibly scratch without each other’s involvement. Nike aims to strengthen its position in the women’s sportswear market by teaming up with SKIMS. A move that they hope will help them achieve the desired clout and subsequent appeal among the intended consumer base. Fashion-forward women who may not be hardcore athletes but live in athleisure. In return, Kim Kardashian gets the opportunity to step into the world of elite sportswear and collaborate with Nike on a new shared ideology that combines SKIMS’ focus on body confidence and self-expression with Nike’s commitment to athletic excellence.
On paper, it is all very exciting. Nike SKIMS, as Nike describes it on its website, aims to bring both “innovation and inclusivity, aiming to empower individuals to move with confidence and authenticity”—whatever that means. All we know or care about right now is that the product line is likely to be expansive. It is projected to include training apparel, footwear, and accessories that are very much identifiable as Nike products but will be tailored with the distinctive SKIMS ethos.
Flattering, functional, and available in extended sizing, those are the current headlines. Anything else at this stage is somewhat speculative, but expect Nike SKIMS to incorporate some of its signature style. These will likely include neutral tones and earthy hues like beige, taupe and soft browns to dominate the product line’s debut colour palette. Similar to what we saw when SKIMS partnered with North Face for their ultimate winter collaboration.
Nike answers the critics.
Perhaps the most interesting part of Nike SKIMS’s announcement, however, is the undertones and subtext of this collaboration’s narrative, which has complexities deeper than what may be apparent on face value. It isn’t just Nike’s latest attempt to boost sales. Instead, it would be fair to frame this move as an opportunity for Nike to right wrongs and answer some of the criticism it has faced in recent years that claims the brand hasn’t done enough to serve women or plus-sized customers.
Whether these criticisms are valid is a matter of opinion, but what is clear is that Nike will do what it has always done in response: find ways to continually redefine themselves to move with the times and the needs of their customers, usually by collaborating with artists, designers, and celebrities who enable Nike to tap into new cultural conversations that they perhaps wouldn’t be privy to alone. Few, therefore, seem a better fit for Nike than Kim Kardashian, someone who has built a reputation around inclusivity, business savvy, and cultural influence.
And for Kim K, the aspect of this that perhaps everyone is thinking, but no one is saying, is the personal undercurrents that permeate this story. Kim Kardashian’s history with ex-husband Kanye West is hard to ignore. Kim’s decision to step into a world dominated by him for so long feels like a quiet reclamation of power. In a post-Yeezy era, few might have predicted that it would be Kim who emerges as the queen of the space that Kanye helped define, but her commitment to doing so in her own way, free from controversy, is perhaps the most significant power play she could make.
