Teaming up with Kim Kardashian, Nike targets the women's market again

Author | Wang Xiaojun

Editor | Huang Yu

The women's sportswear market is once again witnessing a "Game of Thrones." The marriage between global sports giant Nike and Kim Kardashian's brand SKIMS is undoubtedly one of the most talked-about events in the global consumer industry today.

On February 18, Nike officially announced a long-term partnership with Kim Kardashian's shapewear company SKIMS, launching a new independent brand NikeSKIMS, targeting the women's sports market. Kim Kardashian also shared her own employee badge number 000001.

It is understood that the new brand will include a range of new apparel, footwear, and accessories, which will debut this spring and plan to expand globally starting in 2026, exploring new markets and retail stores, including partnerships with wholesale channels.

This collaboration not only marks Nike's first joint venture with an external company to create a new brand but also signifies a profound shift in the competitive logic of the sports industry—from a focus on technology worship to user sovereignty, and from elite narratives to mass inclusivity.

Of course, behind this collaboration lies Nike's strategic anxiety in recent years, the rise of SKIMS, and the structural opportunities and challenges in the women's sports market.

Although Nike remains the "number one player" in the global sports brand arena, its sluggish growth in recent years is an undeniable fact.

Data shows that in fiscal year 2024, Nike's sales in North America fell by 1% year-on-year, primarily due to a decline in consumer confidence and reduced foot traffic in physical stores, with similar declines in foot traffic in physical stores in the Greater China region during the same period.

In the women's sports market, especially in niche areas like yoga and fitness, Nike has long been suppressed by emerging brands such as lululemon and Alo Yoga. Data indicates that Nike's women's business growth rate in 2024 is only about 5%, far below lululemon's growth rate of around 10% during the same period.

In the long run, Nike faces issues such as a singular product positioning and insufficient cultural resonance in the women's consumer market.

In terms of products, Nike's traditional advantages are concentrated in professional sports fields (such as running and basketball), but female consumers place greater emphasis on the fashion, comfort, and scene adaptability of apparel. For example, lululemon blurs the boundaries between sports and everyday wear through "athleisure," leading the trend. However, Nike has failed to keep up with this trend in a timely manner.

In terms of consumer value pursuits, female consumers, primarily from Generation Z, are more concerned about the alignment of brand values. Although Nike conveys a sense of empowerment through "Just Do It" and has consistently shaped a serious, professional, and elite sports narrative, it lacks in-depth expression and corresponding products on issues such as body inclusivity and diverse aesthetics. SKIMS' inclusive design and the concept of "body positivity" precisely fill this gap, becoming one of the reasons for its rapid rise.

This collaboration also reflects Nike's accelerated strategic adjustment after reappointing veteran Elliott Hill as the new CEO. In the 2025 Super Bowl advertisement, Nike focused for the first time on female athletes and launched the "Women First" initiative, with NikeSKIMS being a key move in this transformation Selected by Nike, SKIMS was established in 2019. Through precise "inclusivity" positioning, scenario-based product innovation, and the immense traffic support from Kim Kardashian, it has become a unicorn valued at over $4 billion in just five years.

In terms of brand positioning, SKIMS pioneered the "9 skin tones + XXS-5XL full size" system, covering 95% of women's body types, directly addressing the traditional shapewear market's neglect of diverse body shapes.

In terms of products, SKIMS initially entered the market with shapewear and quickly expanded into loungewear, swimwear, and other areas. By adopting a design philosophy of "seamlessly connecting daily life with sports scenarios," it meets women's diverse needs from the gym to the coffee shop. This collaboration with Nike further infuses this concept into sportswear, launching a product line that combines shaping functionality with fashion.

As the "queen of social media," Kim Kardashian is well-versed in content marketing. She shares product try-on videos and user-generated content through her personal account and even integrates SKIMS into the reality show "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," deeply binding the brand with her personal IP. This "de-advertising" approach has allowed SKIMS to achieve customer acquisition costs 30% lower than the industry average.

Nike's choice of SKIMS essentially highlights its threefold advantages of "user insight + traffic operation + cultural shaping," which are precisely the genes lacking in traditional sports giants.

It is worth mentioning that Kim Kardashian's ex-husband Kanye West also collaborated with Adidas to launch the sneaker brand Yeezy, which was once sold out due to hunger marketing, but NikeSKIMS is clearly targeting a larger market.

Moreover, Yeezy was significantly impacted by Kanye West's own remarks, but this time Nike has chosen the SKIMS brand rather than Kim Kardashian herself; SKIMS is also moving towards depersonalization, which helps reduce the brand's inherent risks.

The current women's sports market is experiencing three major trends: from "professional equipment" to "lifestyle," from "standardization" to "personalization," and from "brand-led" to "user co-creation." The success of brands like lululemon and SKIMS confirms this. At this moment, the launch of NikeSKIMS is also a reflection of riding the wave.

The collaboration between Nike and Kardashian is not merely a simple co-branding marketing effort, but a strategic experiment about "brand rejuvenation" and "market reconstruction."

If NikeSKIMS can successfully integrate Nike's technological foundation with SKIMS's cultural appeal, it is expected to become a "new species" in the women's sports market; conversely, if it falls into the traps of "traffic dependence" or "product homogenization," it may repeat the fate of Yeezy.

In the fierce market competition, the challenges for NikeSKIMS are also evident—lululemon has established a solid "community barrier," while emerging brands like Alo Yoga are capturing users through vertical yoga scenarios. NikeSKIMS needs to find a balance between functional innovation and brand differentiation.

For the women's sports industry, this collaboration also signifies that competition among sports brands has entered a new stage driven by "values"—whoever better understands women's real needs will win the future The answer from Nike SKIMS may begin to emerge in the first series launch in spring 2025