Dive Brief:
- Tied to the start of the WNBA season and its role as an official partner of the league, Skims launched a new marketing campaign featuring five of the game’s rising, established and legendary stars.
- The campaign highlights recently retired WNBA champion Candace Parker, second overall draft pick Cameron Brink, veteran Dijonai Carrington and All-Stars Kelsey Plum and Skylar Diggins-Smith. The women were photographed by Hugh Wilson wearing Skims’ Fits Everybody underwear collection, per a release sent to Retail Dive.
- The media campaign includes national TV spots during WNBA games on ESPN and ABC. Skims is also having virtual signage on court during WNBA games on ABC throughout the season. The campaign will appear across all social and digital platforms of both the WNBA and Skims.
Dive Insight:
The campaign comes on the heels of Skims being named official underwear sponsor of the WNBA, NBA and USA Basketball last fall.
“I’m proud to launch this new WNBA campaign starring such an incredible cast of athletes,” Kim Kardashian, co-founder and chief creative officer of Skims, said in a statement. “Championing women and women in sports is incredibly important to Skims. Our brand DNA is rooted in inclusivity, representation and women’s empowerment, which are values shared with the WNBA.”
While Skims does promote products that are “fit for every body” the new marketing campaign has caused some followers of the brand to call out the company for featuring players that weren’t fully representative of the whole WNBA community. Representatives of the company chose not to comment on the criticism.
“I’m thrilled to be included in the first-ever Skims WNBA campaign alongside this amazing group of rising stars and all-stars,” Parker, a three-time champion, said in a statement. “As I move onto this next chapter in my life, I hope to leave the game in a better place and continue to be an example of what is possible both on and off the court.” Parker retired in 2023 and was recently named president of women’s basketball at Adidas.
Skims has had a meteoric rise since it was founded in 2019 by Kardashian and Jens Grede. As of July 2023, the brand had raised a total of $670 million across three major funding rounds — its most recent being $270 million in a Series C round led by Wellington Management that valued the company at of $4 billion. Projected net sales in 2023 were $750 million.
Skims launched its first men’s collection last October and started work on a retail store in Washington, D.C in November. The brand also opened a pop-up shop in New York City at Rockefeller Center, a dedicated space at Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and another pop-up at Selfridges in London.
