Nike enters a surprising partnership with Kim Kardashian and her underwear and "athleisure" brand Skims. Together, they plan to develop the new line "NikeSkims" – aiming at a vast potential among female sports and lifestyle customers. So far, Nike has scored with sports icons like Michael Jordan or Roger Federer. But Skims, founded five years ago, has long been a billion-dollar business, and Kim Kardashian's over 300 million social media followers provide the best conditions to boost sales. The US corporation is undergoing profound changes. Business recently fell short of expectations, and revenue dropped by about a tenth over two quarters. On the stock market, Nike temporarily lost a fifth of its value; the stock still fluctuates well below its peak in 2021. After the era under John Donahue, who led Nike from 2020 to 2024, the company suffers from high inventory levels and the absence of a new sales hit. For the newly appointed CEO Elliott Hill, the collaboration with Kardashian is a way to leverage social media trends and stay on the cutting edge of fashionable leisurewear ("streetwear"). Above all, the inventory issue weighs heavily: in the first quarter of Nike's 2025 fiscal year, unsold goods tied up almost 700 million US dollars of corporate liquidity. Discounts and potential write-downs are expected to further burden results. However, the recent reaction of investors shows that the deal with Kardashian could become a big hit: since the alliance was announced, Nike's market capitalization has increased by 6 billion US dollars.

The strategy behind "NikeSkims" suggests that the self-concept of sports brands is in flux: Instead of focusing solely on Olympians and top athletes, Nike is now actively positioning itself with lifestyle customers, for whom sportswear is more of a fashion accessory than functional clothing. This puts the company in greater competition with Lululemon, although in an environment that is far less predictable than the traditional sports segment.