Follow The Debrief wherever you listen to podcasts.

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.

Additional Resources:

• Skims Plots Its Next Moves: ‘We Don’t Have the Luxury of Failing’: Skims recently raised funding at a $3.2 billion valuation. Kim Kardashian and Jens Grede, in an exclusive interview with BoF, explain how the ‘solution wear’ empire plans to prove it’s more than a pandemic fad. First up: swimwear.
• The BoF Podcast | Jens Grede on Building Skims, Frame and the Future of Fashion: The multitasking entrepreneur joins BoF founder and chief executive Imran Amed to discuss the personal and professional journey that led him to co-create the category-disrupting brand Skims with Kim Kardashian.
• Building a DTC Challenger Brand | Download the Case Study: Fashion entrepreneurs need a new playbook to launch, scale and differentiate their companies, as regulations and rising costs mean performance marketing can no longer serve the critical role it once did for DTC brands.