Lifestyle and apparel brand SKIMS by Kim Kardashian is acquiring SKKN by Kim (as in Kardashian, to be clear), the company announced in late March.
In an effort to consolidate her many scattered ventures, influencer and reality television star Kardashian is bringing SKKN by Kim, her skincare and makeup line, under her wildly successful, unicorn-valued SKIMS, the Hollywood-based shapewear clothing manufacturing company.
“My mission has always been to create products that resonate deeply – whether it’s shapewear and lingerie that empowers or makeup and skincare that transforms,” Kardashian, SKIMS’ chief creative officer and cofounder, said in a statement. “Uniting everything under the SKIMS brand streamlines that vision.”
When SKIMS was cofounded in 2019 by Kardashian and Jens Grede, it was yet another in a long line of consumer goods companies created by Kardashian. This one focused on underwear, shapewear and loungewear.
Despite getting credit for trailblazing a slew of beauty and fashion trends in the mid 2010s, Kardashian’s beauty ambitions failed to reach the same levels of financial success SKIMS. Her first foray into beauty was with KKW Beauty, a makeup company she founded in 2017 to capitalize on her influence on the popular face contouring trend. At the same time, she founded KKW Fragrance.
Both KKW Beauty and KKW Fragrance shuttered – the former in 2021, the latter in 2022. Later that year she started SKKN by Kim, which she licensed to Coty in a $200 million deal that gave Coty a 20% stake and Kardashian an 80% stake in the company. SKKN by Kim launched with a high-end skincare system that involved nine products and cost over $600 in the United States.
Launching new ventures next year
Now, she has usurped full control of the skincare and makeup line, folding it into SKIMS. The company is planning on launching beauty, skincare and fragrance offerings in 2026.
This is Kardashian’s third attempt to cement herself as a beauty businesswoman, something other celebrities have done with relative ease. Hailey Bieber’s Beverly Hills-based Rhode Beauty, Selena Gomez’ El Segundo-based Rare Beauty, Ariana Grande’s Century City-based R.E.M. Beauty and Robyn Rihanna Fenty’s popular San Francisco-based Fenty Beauty are sold online and at popular retailers. SKKN by Kim, however, hasn’t penetrated popular retailers in the same way.
“This acquisition isn’t just growth,” Grede, chief executive and cofounder of SKIMS, said in a statement. “It’s about the strength of our brand and our ability to enter a new category with authority.”
SKIMS is the seventh highest valued startups in Los Angeles with a $4 billion valuation as of 2023, according to PitchBook. Of all five clothing retail unicorns in the region – which includes Savage X Fenty, the El Segundo-based lingerie and clothing brand cofounded by singer Rihanna – SKIMS holds second the largest valuation. For comparison, TechStyle Fashion Group, an El Segundo-based fashion incubator, holds the largest valuation of clothing retail unicorns at a $6.88 billion valuation.
That makes sense – SKIMS is by far Kardashian’s most successful venture to date, leveraging high-profile campaigns with the likes of socialite Paris Hilton, musical artist Charli XCX and pop star Sabrina Carpenter and offering a wide array of sizes. The venture-backed firm has raised over $1 billion in funding, per PitchBook.
SKIMS’ foray into beauty could further inflate billionaire Kardashian’s positioning among the wealthiest people in Los Angeles. Similarly, Fenty’s stature as a billionaire is tied to Fenty Beauty and Gomez’s makeup line last year propelled her to billionaire status.
