Kardashian’s influencer status will serve her well as Skims enters its next phase, Marron contends, noting that her personal brand has long operated like a modern business. “Those creator instincts are exactly what has allowed Skims to outpace legacy brands,” she says. “It behaves more like a creator than a brand – fast, intuitive, and culturally fluent – and that is what keeps it winning with standout marketing.”
Skims has backed up this intuition with smart teams – and it’s now growing its staff.
Earlier this month, Skims appointed new executives. Dawn Vitale was appointed chief merchandising officer, joining from Levi Strauss & Co., and Ami Colé founder Diarrha N’Diaye joined as EVP of beauty and fragrance for Skims Beauty. These appointments are significant as they signal ambition, experts say. “They’re building infrastructure for a multi-category lifestyle empire, not a shapewear brand,” Lubin says. “Beauty feels like a smart next move – it’s brand extension 101, high margins, and well within the Kardashian/Jenner wheelhouse.”
With more physical store additions, Skims will need to be mindful, Saunders cautions, as opening stores creates a financial and capital commitment that is hard to dissolve, he says, adding that it can also impose a more rigid cost structure on the business. But he’s confident in Skims’s ability to manage. “Skims has shown itself to be a brand that has staying power and the view will be that to become more of a lifestyle label, it needs to control the distribution and experience,” he says. “This is also a sign that the brand has bold ambitions and that it wants to be a more significant player in the market.”
How much runway is there for growth? Plenty, experts say, so long as it’s well-managed. “The risk isn’t demand, it’s overextension,” Lubin says. “Right now Skims has the cultural heat and the capital, but they will need to stay focused on what they do so brilliantly: fit, inclusivity, and moment-making.”
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