Kim Kardashian is bringing Skims out from behind the screen, launching five in-person stores across the US.
The soft clothing and intimates brand – founded in 2019 by the reality star and entrepreneur Jens Grede – will open five brick-and-mortar-esque shopping locations in Georgetown, DC; Aventura, Florida; Austin and Houston, Texas; and Atlanta, Georgia. Georgetown will be the first store to open, welcoming customers inside their 3,300-square-foot space starting June 13.
According to Women’s Wear Daily, the Skims store will offer their women’s collection before their men’s line comes in the third quarter.
The Georgetown store opening gathered a mass of eager shoppers before the doors opened at 10am. “A group of people lined up outside the store shortly before its opening at 10am. The Skims location is 3300 M St. NW,” DC News Now reported.
The interior of the stores will mimic the brand’s apt for minimalism, utilizing neutral tones and sleek furniture.
Fashion media mogul and industry expert, Bernard Garby, took to TikTok to break the news to his thousands of followers. Being well-versed in the business of luxury goods, Garby talked about what this meant for Kardashian’s company and predicted the business tycoon’s next move.
Garby explained that these Skims stores would be “permanent” stores, unlike the pop-ups they’ve done before. Since the brand’s official launch, pop-ups have been offered from New York’s Rockefeller Center to Los Angeles’ The Grove. More than that, Skims has collaborated with brands like Swarovski and Fendi to bring their customers special, refined collections and subsequent pop-ups across 13 cities. Then, in February 2020, Skims apparel was welcomed into Nordstrom department stores.
“We’re not talking about a pop-up or some sort of new concession as part of a department store,” Garby said. “No, we are talking about real permanent stores, which is a big step for Kim Kardashian’s business, especially for business that started from E-commerce only.”
“If you’re asking me what’s next,” Garby continued. “Well, obviously it must be an IPO, which means listing the business on the stock exchange and perhaps even selling the whole business to some other investor. I wouldn’t be surprised.”
The fashion news expert pointed out how Kardashian has slowly been removing herself from the brand, specifically the “marketing campaigns.” In Garby’s opinion, this is the “right thing to do.”
“Personal celebrity association works in the beginning to you know, as I say, spark the fire, raise awareness, accelerate growth,” he explained. “But if it becomes as big as Skims, you need to start removing yourself from the brand because one day when you’re gone, you don’t want the brand to be gone too.
“You want the brand to stay, and that’s what Kim Kardashian is doing at the moment,” Garby added.
As of now, it’s not known whether the company plans to expand their retail locations into other areas of the US.
