NikeSKIMS: In Nike's Time of Need, Kim Kardashian Is the Next Michael Jordan

Can Kim Kardashian's SKIMS save Nike? Or is NikeSKIMS, a new Nike brand powered by SKIMS, the next big move for Kardashian's red-hot shapewear label?

Nike and SKIMS announced NikeSKIMS on February 18, ahead of the first collection's digital launch in spring 2025. With an international launch planned for 2026, it sounds like world domination is in order — or at least SKIMS 2.0.

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

"This partnership is the culmination of that shared vision, delivering product that is meticulously designed to sculpt and perform for every body," added Kardashian, who co-founded SKIMS with Frame Denim co-founder Jens Grede. "Every single detail has been obsessed over and carefully considered."

To be clear, NikeSKIMS is a lifestyle-leaning womenswear line. In the NikeSKIMS release, the word "athlete" was accompanied by an ampersand clarified in Nike's newsroom post: "If you have a body, you are an athlete."

Sounds like NikeSKIMS is a dedicated entry into the athleisure industry, which a November 2024 study estimated was worth nearly $400 billion.

That's old hat for Nike but fresh turf that SKIMS is keen to claim.

Nike is currently on a quest to reclaim its cultural clout following a few quarters of slacking revenues. New CEO Elliott Hill rejoined Nike in 2024 as part of a broader bid to restart the sportswear giant's winning streak, which began waning around 2023 when revenues began to plateau under former CEO John Donahoe and archrival adidas became the most vital name in sportswear (current state of adidas: quite sunny).

SKIMS, meanwhile, may as well be fitted with rocket boosters.

Since Kardashian and Grede founded the company in 2019, SKIMS has masterminded splashy celebrity campaigns and viral products, swiftly expanding its business from shapewear to all-gender underwear. It's latest valuation? A cool $4 billion.

Nike remains the bigger company of course, but SKIMS is the hotter property. It's an interesting reflection of where Nike's brand positioning currently sits — the Swoosh was once undefeated in marketing but now upstarts like SKIMS wear the crown.

Plus, NikeSKIMS represents both Nike's latent desire to claw back much-needed relevance and SKIMS' overarching interest in sportswear.

SKIMS has demonstrated ample interest in sportier fare, having partnered with The North Face to create earth-toned skiwear and becoming the official underwear partner of the NBA (Nike will remain the NBA's official uniform and apparel provider through 2037).

But what does SKIMS really get out the NikeSKIMS team-up? SKIMS is huge even without a Nike cosign and though SKIMS' debut Nike sneaker, which will be part of the coming product line, is a tantalizing proposition, you'd think that the label could've devised its own footwear in time.

Speculation points to Nike potentially acquiring SKIMS. That'd be the most viable method of ensuring that the NikeSKIMS partnership remains ongoing, which seems to be the plan with the release positioning NikeSKIMS as a dedicated Nike family brand alongside Jordan and Converse.

Certainly, Nike's short-lived acquisition of RTFKT implies that it's keen on "owning" changemakers in its space. This could be provide the much-needed infusion of "cool" that eventually redeems Nike. And for SKIMS, that means the valuable backing of a household name.

It also means, in her own way, that Kim Kardashian is today's Michael Jordan.

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