Skims pushes into physical retail as Grede pushes back on perception
The Kim Kardashian-founded shapewear brand is opening stores in London, Dubai and beyond as its chief executive argues the business is more substantial than its social media image suggests.
Skims, the shapewear and loungewear brand co-founded by Kim Kardashian, is expanding its physical retail footprint with new stores in London, Dubai and other markets, according to WWD. Chief executive Jens Grede used the expansion to push back on what he characterises as a persistent misreading of the business, arguing that Skims functions as a serious product and retail operation rather than a brand sustained purely by celebrity and social media attention.
The expansion matters because it tests whether a brand built largely on direct-to-consumer digital sales and celebrity founder visibility can translate into durable physical retail performance in markets far from its US home base. London and Dubai are both cities with dense luxury and premium retail competition and high fixed costs, meaning Skims will need genuine product pull rather than novelty traffic to justify permanent stores there.
The broader significance is what Skims represents for a generation of direct-to-consumer brands maturing beyond their founding platform. Grede, who also co-founded Frankie Shop and has a long history in fashion marketing, is effectively arguing that Skims should be judged on retail execution and product economics rather than on the founder's celebrity profile alone. Whether international brick-and-mortar stores can sustain the growth rates the brand achieved online will be an important signal for other social-media-native brands weighing similar expansion.
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