SKIMS:

HOW SPANDEX BECAME A FORTUNE

Let’s be honest: when SKIMS launched, most of us rolled our eyes so hard we nearly sprained a socket. Another celebrity brand? Another Kardashian “this-changes-everything” announcement? Another beige bodysuit promising to solve world peace, cellulite, and the mystery of Kim Kardashian’s rear end.

And yet, SKIMS didn’t just survive. It has conquered. It became the shapewear version of a tech unicorn. Kim Kardashian, mammoth cultural reach has rocketed hyper-engineered stretch fabrics with a marketing machine so powerful it could convince people to buy a rock if it came in “Bone,” “Sand,” or “Cocoa.”

Started in 2019 as “Kimono,” a name that lasted about 11 minutes before triggering an international incident. After the obligatory redemption arc, the brand reemerged as SKIMS, now with a clean slate, a minimalist logo, and a mission to hug, squeeze, smooth, lift, cinch, compress, contour, and generally perform the emotional labor most people expect from two years of therapy. The stuff actually works. The fabrics really do stretch to twice their size. The colors really do mirror a spectrum of human skin tones instead of the usual three shades of beige you’d find in sad department-store lingerie aisles. And the sizing? Inclusive enough to make traditional luxury brands clutch their pearls.

It’s a billion-dollar enterprise surgically engineered by the Gredes, Jens and Emma, who are to celebrity brands what Rolex is to wrist envy: status makers, not status chasers. Combine them with Kim Kardashian, a woman who could post a photo of a spoon and sell out flatware globally, and suddenly you’ve got a business (after its recent $250M capital raise) that is valued north of $5 billion.

The drops are timed like stock market trades. The marketing is meticulously diverse. The product photos look like Apple campaigns but with more clavicle. And while SKIMS insists it’s a “solutions-oriented brand,” the real solution appears to be giving consumers exactly the right blend of aspiration and relatability.

SKIMS is a legitimate, fast-growing business with innovation, cultural power, smart financing, and global demand. But it’s also a reminder that in 2025, luxury doesn’t need a 100-year heritage story and it’s a good idea to hitch your wagon to a Kardashian.