Kim Kardashian is no stranger to the fashion community. She has always been in on the media’s discussions of celebrity fashion – in 2019 she introduced her line of shape wear, SKIMS, and the brand has exploded ever since. Kim expanded beyond shape wear, creating SKIMS undergarments, loungewear, and of course, their iconic “soft smoothing seamless” tops. Dupes of the brand can be found across many clothing sites, all trying to replicate the recognizable look and feel of Kim’s clothing.
Kim’s brand has proven itself to be a huge player in the luxury and comfort side of the fashion industry. SKIMS has had a few collaborations with extremely notable designer brands such as Swarovski and Fendi, mixing it’s comfortability with an even higher level of luxury.
With both SKIMS’ popularity and it’s practicality, it came as no surprise that SKIMS announced it’s partnership as the official underwear brand of the NBA, WNBA, and USA Basketball in October of 2023.
With this new partnership, many of the countries’ basketball players will wear SKIMS under their jerseys…but what does that really do when you can’t even see it?
Kim Kardashian is not only a reality TV star and fashionista, she’s also a savvy business woman. SKIMS is a brand that has catered mostly to women, but by partnering with the NBA, the brand is working on evening out it’s demographic to be both men and women. On the other hand, the NBA benefits as their audience is mainly men, and by bringing SKIMS into the mix they appeal more to women.
Kim has made extremely smart and beneficial business moves in addition to partnering with the NBA. For example, SKIMS has only partnered with the NBA, Swarovski, and Fendi, making their partnerships extremely exclusive. So, when a SKIMS partnership comes around, it’s a pretty big deal.
Not all of SKIMS x NBA’s feedback was positive. There were many negative comments towards Kim’s success:
“Kardashians have always been official NBA partner, look at all their relationships”
“How many demonic rituals did you perform to get this deal???”
“Family ran through so many players they had to sponsor.”
“Wow hope this falls flat on its face.”
No path to success is easy, or necessarily clean. But to see someone so successful in an industry inherently pitted against women also being brought down and reduced to her (and her family’s) past is upsetting. Though Kim Kardashian and her family are not perfect, one can’t deny that Kim is making significant progress in the business world.
Despite this backlash from some audiences, the SKIMS x NBA partnership is a step in the right direction for bringing together brands and organizations that have previously only catered to one demographic – a step that other companies will hopefully follow.
Ultimately, it’s very exciting to see a woman making a name for herself in the business world, and Kim’s path to success has paved the way for more women to seek advancement and dominate what is arguably one of the most intense industries in the world.
Keep your eye out for more SKIMS partnerships in the future (AKA Kim continue to slay being a business owner)!