Let’s Talk About Skims!
10/28/24 • 45 min
The shapewear brand that exploded onto the scene with the most famous pitchwoman in the business as a co-founder recently hit a major milestone: Kim Kardashian’s Skims is now a unicorn four times over.
Writer Max Berlinger sat down to talk with Kardashian for his feature article in our September issue of Inc. magazine—so Christine and Diana sat down to talk with Max to get the behind-the-scenes. He delivered.
Kardashian launched her shapewear brand, Skims, in 2019 in Los Angeles, and over the past three years, the company more than quintupled its annual revenue to nearly $713 million in 2023. That landed it at No. 1,168 on our annual Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing companies. Just over a year ago, Skims raised a round of funding that catapulted its valuation to $4 billion.
Kardashian created Skims out of personal need—with the side benefit that it might just change people’s perspectives on shapewear. She wanted to make the brand fun. Cheeky, even. It is all about owning the shape of your body. However, the brand’s progress also has a lot to do with its CEO and co-founder, Jens Grede, who has launched other successful companies. He and his wife—Emma Grede, the third founding partner at Skims—have long worked closely with the Kardashian family.
Additional research and information:
Read on Inc.com : The Inside Story of How Kim Kardashian Made Shapewear Sexy
Read Max Berlinger’s story on Inc.com: Skims Is a Huge Hit for Kim Kardashian. But Is It Ready for an IPO?
Read on Inc.com: Skims Inc 5000 profile
For more Inc.com coverage on Skims: The WNBA Is Teaming Up With Women-Led Businesses
For more Inc.com coverage on Emma Grede: How to Successfully Launch Products in Crowded Categories, According to Emma Grede
Visit Skims
Visit Skims’ Youtube
Visit Skims Instagram page
The shapewear brand that exploded onto the scene with the most famous pitchwoman in the business as a co-founder recently hit a major milestone: Kim Kardashian’s Skims is now a unicorn four times over.
Writer Max Berlinger sat down to talk with Kardashian for his feature article in our September issue of Inc. magazine—so Christine and Diana sat down to talk with Max to get the behind-the-scenes. He delivered.
Kardashian launched her shapewear brand, Skims, in 2019 in Los Angeles, and over the past three years, the company more than quintupled its annual revenue to nearly $713 million in 2023. That landed it at No. 1,168 on our annual Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing companies. Just over a year ago, Skims raised a round of funding that catapulted its valuation to $4 billion.
Kardashian created Skims out of personal need—with the side benefit that it might just change people’s perspectives on shapewear. She wanted to make the brand fun. Cheeky, even. It is all about owning the shape of your body. However, the brand’s progress also has a lot to do with its CEO and co-founder, Jens Grede, who has launched other successful companies. He and his wife—Emma Grede, the third founding partner at Skims—have long worked closely with the Kardashian family.
Additional research and information:
Read on Inc.com : The Inside Story of How Kim Kardashian Made Shapewear Sexy
Read Max Berlinger’s story on Inc.com: Skims Is a Huge Hit for Kim Kardashian. But Is It Ready for an IPO?
Read on Inc.com: Skims Inc 5000 profile
For more Inc.com coverage on Skims: The WNBA Is Teaming Up With Women-Led Businesses
For more Inc.com coverage on Emma Grede: How to Successfully Launch Products in Crowded Categories, According to Emma Grede
Visit Skims
Visit Skims’ Youtube
Visit Skims Instagram page
Previous Episode
Finding Your Footing
Before Monte Deere joined Kizik, the hands-free shoe brand, as chief executive, he had zero experience in selling consumer products–—and no experience in footwear. Heck, he’d never been a CEO before.
But Kizik’s Kizik founder Mike Pratt had worked with Deere previously– and took a bet on him. Deere was tasked with recruiting a dream team of executives with experience at brands such as Hoka, Converse, and Nike--"—“shoe dogs,”" as he likes to call them, a reference to Nike founder Phil Knight's Knight’s memoir--—to complement the “"cool contingency of innovators”" led by Pratt.
This year, Kizik is #No. 407 on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest fastest-growing companies in America. In 2023, its revenue was more thanover $100 million. In an interview with Inc. editor editor-at at-large Christine Lagorio-Chafkin, Deere explains Kizik’s pandemic-era brand transformation, how it found its loyal customers, and its expansion into DTC and wholesale–—plus its fascinating collaborations. Monte believes that soon 10% percent of the global footwear market could soon be hands hands-free.
Following our regular episode, we have a special segment in collaboration with our partner at Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch Whisky. Inc. Editor-in-Chief Mike Hoffman spoke with Smarsh Founder Stephen Marsh about his remarkable journey, the legacy he has built, and the honor of being the first recipient of the inaugural Legacy Award presented by Glenfiddich at this year's Inc. 5000 gala. Skillfully Crafted, Enjoy Responsibly. Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch Whisky ©2024 Imported by William Grant & Sons, Inc. New York, NY.
Additional research and information:
Read on Inc.com: Is Kizik Building the Next Billion-Dollar Sneaker Brand?
Read on Inc.com: Kizik Inc 5000 profile
Visit Kizik website:
https://kizik.com/pages/about-us
Visit Hands Free Labs Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/handsfreelabs/
Visit Kizik’s YouTube:
Next Episode
The Billion-Dollar Whiskey Story
It’s a young company, but its legacy spans generations. And thanks to Fawn Weaver, the story and legacy of her whiskey brand, Uncle Nearest, is becoming ever more expansive.
Its most recent chapter: The company reached a $1.1 billion valuation in 2024. However, none of this would have been possible without Weaver, Uncle Nearest’s founder and CEO, who envisions herself as not just an executive and leader, but also as the company’s chief historian. She’s made it her mission to build a brand honest to the legacy of a man named Nearest Green, or Uncle Nearest, the formerly enslaved laborer who taught Jack Daniel how to make whiskey.
Weaver has spent much of the past decade researching and piecing together the story of Nearest Green. Her book Love & Whiskey: The Remarkable True Story of Jack Daniel, His Master Distiller Nearest Green, and the Improbable Rise of Uncle Nearest was released in June.
Inc. editor-at-large Christine Lagorio-Chafkin sat down with Weaver recently to discuss her legacy as well: This year she became one of the first-ever African American women to run a company valued at more than $1 billion.
Additional research and information:
Christine interviewed Fawn Weaver in this 2021 episode of the What I Know podcast
Read Fawn Weaver’s advice on Creating a Winning Team on Inc.com
Visit: Uncle Nearest
Visit: Fawn Weaver’s Instagram
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