The Business of Fashion | The Debrief: How Skims Took on Victoria’s Secret and Spanx @businessoffashion | Uploaded August 2022 | Updated October 2024, 4 hours ago.
Kim Kardashian’s ‘solution wear’ line was recently valued at $3.2 billion. BoF correspondent Alexandra Mondalek charts the rise of the brand, and details what challenges lie ahead.
Background:
Founded in 2019 by Kim Kardashian and retail veteran Jens Grede, ‘solution wear’ line Skims has taken the fashion industry by storm, disrupting the sleepy shapewear category and fetching a $3.2 billion valuation following its Series B funding round in January 2022. Now, the brand is looking to launch new categories and in new geographies, and is eyeing brick-and-mortar and a potential IPO.
“Investors particularly like to talk about founder-product fit, and this really felt like a business that accomplished that,” said BoF’s Alexandra Mondalek.
Key Insights:
- Skims has seen non-stop momentum since its launch. Going forward, the brand will have to find a way to keep up with lofty expectations based on its early performance. As Grede told BoF in March, “[Skims] doesn’t have the luxury of failing.”
- A big challenge Skims has faced is managing unrelenting demand, especially amid the global supply chain crisis. Core items are often out of stock on the brand’s site — a huge problem for getting and keeping customers, and a reason for the business to take on funding, raising a $240 million round in January.
- A hallmark of Skims’ success has been its marketing approach. From its simple, sexy imagery — a recent campaign featured a number of former Victoria’s Secret models — to the way it has tapped influencers and Kardashian’s powerful network, the brand has focused on brand-building rather than performance marketing.
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ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF FASHION: The Business of Fashion is a next-generation fashion media company conceived for today’s global and hyper-connected world. Founded in 2007 by Imran Amed, BoF is known for its authoritative, agenda-setting point of view on the global fashion industry, and is an indispensable resource for fashion executives, creatives, students, and entrepreneurs in over 200 countries. It has been described as “The Economist of Fashion,” “A Daily Destination for Fashion’s Power Players”, and “The Industry Bible”, businessoffashion.com
Kim Kardashian’s ‘solution wear’ line was recently valued at $3.2 billion. BoF correspondent Alexandra Mondalek charts the rise of the brand, and details what challenges lie ahead.
Background:
Founded in 2019 by Kim Kardashian and retail veteran Jens Grede, ‘solution wear’ line Skims has taken the fashion industry by storm, disrupting the sleepy shapewear category and fetching a $3.2 billion valuation following its Series B funding round in January 2022. Now, the brand is looking to launch new categories and in new geographies, and is eyeing brick-and-mortar and a potential IPO.
“Investors particularly like to talk about founder-product fit, and this really felt like a business that accomplished that,” said BoF’s Alexandra Mondalek.
Key Insights:
- Skims has seen non-stop momentum since its launch. Going forward, the brand will have to find a way to keep up with lofty expectations based on its early performance. As Grede told BoF in March, “[Skims] doesn’t have the luxury of failing.”
- A big challenge Skims has faced is managing unrelenting demand, especially amid the global supply chain crisis. Core items are often out of stock on the brand’s site — a huge problem for getting and keeping customers, and a reason for the business to take on funding, raising a $240 million round in January.
- A hallmark of Skims’ success has been its marketing approach. From its simple, sexy imagery — a recent campaign featured a number of former Victoria’s Secret models — to the way it has tapped influencers and Kardashian’s powerful network, the brand has focused on brand-building rather than performance marketing.
Subscribe to BoF’s YouTube channel to never miss a video.
CONNECT WITH THE BUSINESS OF FASHION:
Web: businessoffashion.com
Twitter: twitter.com/BoF
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/businessoffa...
Instagram: instagram.com/BoF
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-...
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/fashionbu...
Newsletter: https://www.businessoffashion.com/new...
ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF FASHION: The Business of Fashion is a next-generation fashion media company conceived for today’s global and hyper-connected world. Founded in 2007 by Imran Amed, BoF is known for its authoritative, agenda-setting point of view on the global fashion industry, and is an indispensable resource for fashion executives, creatives, students, and entrepreneurs in over 200 countries. It has been described as “The Economist of Fashion,” “A Daily Destination for Fashion’s Power Players”, and “The Industry Bible”, businessoffashion.com
