This is key for a brand that recognised the potential for sports-fashion tie-ups, which exploded last year. In 2024, the shapewear brand became the official underwear partner for the NBA, WNBA and USA Basketball and partnered with Team USA for the Olympics. Even before last year’s spike, Skims dressed the team in Tokyo (2020) and Beijing (2022). In December, Skims launched a skiwear collaboration with the North Face, which generated $5.4 million in media impact value (MIV) in the first 48 hours, according to Launchmetrics.
The Nike deal solidifies Skims’s sports ambitions, says Dan Hastings-Narayanin, deputy editor at strategic foresight agency The Future Laboratory. He dubs Nike’s involvement a “knighting moment: a major endorsement that legitimises Skims as a serious player in sportswear”.
And Nike has been talking about growing its women’s business for years now, says Brian Yarbrough, consumer analyst at Edward Jones who covers the sportswear giant. But progress has lagged. “When people think of the best workout leggings or sportswear for women, brands like Lululemon and Alo Yoga come to mind — Nike is not the first choice,” Hastings-Narayanin says.
Creative consultant and content creator Robyn DelMonte agrees. “With so many athletic brands out there now, I find myself reaching for others lately because I’m looking for something that’s stylish and comfortable, not just performance-driven,” she says. “While it’s an unexpected combo, if done right, this partnership could be exactly what the market is craving.”
Nike women: Showing, not telling
Under Hill, the brand has amped up the promise to grow women’s.
Earlier this month, Nike made its first major women’s splash under Hill, debuting its “So Win” campaign with a Super Bowl advert voiced by Doechii. It highlighted the rise of women athletes, featuring talent from Caitlin Clark to Sha’Carri Richardson to A’ja Wilson. It read as a first step in Nike’s creative comeback — and a bid to get more women on board.
And it’s a bigger effort. Previous fashion collabs (Bode, Jacquemus, for instance) were incredibly hard to acquire. NikeSkims, as a standalone brand, promises to be a mass market play, widely accessible in owned and retailer locations. (Though the price point is still under wraps.) “This is the biggest sign in a long time that I’ve seen of Nike showing that it’s investing in its female consumer rather than talking about it,” says Daniel-Yaw Miller, author of the Sportsverse Substack and brand advisor.
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