We all know, we all know, Kim Kardashian was able to sell anything. She might likely sell rocks in her driveway and people would queue around the block. However, here the interesting part comes in: Does Skims Really Represent $4 Billion, or Are the Media Overvaluing Them? Caution–it is worse (or, again, better–it depends on how it is taken). By late 2025 Skims is worth billions once more after another 225 million was thrown in by Goldman Sachs. It is not even a question of $4 billion any more. We’ve leveled up.
However, we should all worship at the alter of stretchy bodysuits and solutions to every body before we all jump on the bandwagon and start worshipping. Due to the fact that it seems like you are experiencing this entire scenario because you think that your friend has posed something on their Instagram that is just too good, but you know that they are sobbing in their car during the lunch breaks. The figures are impressive on paper, but does Skims live up to all this hype or are we witnessing the largest shapewear bubble since Spanx made us believe that wearing torture devices was comfortable?
The Billion Dollar Question Nobody’s Really Asking
Here’s the thing that keeps me up at night (along with wondering why I spent thirty dollars on a tank top): when we say Skims really represents $4 billion, or now 5 billion–now what are we making money of? Is it the real business basics we are appreciating, or are we simply charging the number of Instagram followers of Kim Kardashian and calling it a day?
Let’s break down what we know. Skims will be introduced in 2019 and by 2025, it will reach one billion dollars worth of sales each year. That is an impressive figure until you do the calculations. To have a value of 5 billion on 1 billion worth of sales implies that investors are gambling that this company is five times its annual sales. That is as compared to the real life profitable fashion businesses that have been in existence over decades and all of a sudden those figures start to appear as someone who has been taking the champagne a bit too much at Goldman Sachs.
In November 2025, the firm conducted a funding round that resulted in an increase of the valuation to $5 billion and raised upwards of 225 million dollars. It is a 25 percent increase in value in two years with the greater retail market in general struggling, and consumer brands IPO market deader than disco. Either Skims has found the magical formula that renders shapewear to be worth more than the GDP of certain small nations, or somebody is playing a game of very creative accounting.
When Media Hype Meets Reality Checks
The media is fascinated with a Kardashian story. It is journalism crack. However, when all the headlines shriek that Skims is the next new thing in fashion, we must wonder: are they covering the news or have they simply repeated the press releases, sent by the team of Kim?
Since what the glossy magazine spreads are not telling you: Skims scored literally no points, i.e. 0 out of 150 on the 2024 Remake Fashion Accountability Report. It is the same rating as that of SHEIN which is, in fact, the poster child of everything that is wrong about fast fashion. Being bundled with SHEIN on the ethics team, now is not a flex, that is the size of the Texas red flag.
The company barely gives any information regarding the locations where it produces its items, the way it compensates its employees, or its true environmental impact. Their sustainability page on the site? It would also connect to error messages. Their code of conduct? Also error messages. They are playing a game of hide and seek with simple corporate responsibility, and, by the way, they are really good at it.
The Numbers Don’t Lie But They Can Be Really Confusing
So let’s talk about whether Skims really represents $4 billion in actual value or if it is mere business window dressing. The firm boasts of reaching 750 million in the year 2023, and approximates 190 million in profit. However, the trick is, Skims is privately-owned, so they are not required to disclose those figures in any way to SEC, and, as such the numbers are as validated as my New Year resolutions.
This company has received more than 1.3 billion dollars in investment since 2019 in investment firms such as Goldman Sachs, Wellington Management, and Greenoaks Capital. Betting on stretchy underwear is a lot of money. These are not dumb individuals pouring money into any business they come across. They are finding something worthy of this. But what is it they are looking at?
According to some analysts, the valuation is pegged on Skims being an empire of lifestyle rather than a shapewear brand. They have already ventured into menswear, swimwear, and they are going to launch a beauty line in 2026. They have collaborated with Nike to release NikeSKIMS in September, 2025, genius brand synergy or the priciest athleisure collaboration of all time. They are building stores at an accelerated rate than Starbucks when they were experiencing their peak expansion- 18 stores in the US, ones in Mexico, and a flagship store scheduled to be built in the Regent Street of London by the summer of 2026.
The Celebrity Wild Card That Nobody Wants to Talk About
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Does Skims really represent $4 billion or are we just pricing in The popularity of Kim Kardashian and hoping it will continue? Since we all know 35 percent of this company is owned by Kim herself, and the personal brand is the biggest strength and the biggest weakness of Skims.
What will happen in case Kim chooses to switch to another thing? What would happen if the new generation comes to the conclusion that they are tired of the Kardashian-style? What will happen in the event that she says something controversial and a boycott is triggered? We have already witnessed how she managed to sail through political perils, as some quarters have boycotted her statements concerning different conflicts. The company does not simply play off of the image of Kim, it is the image of Kim in a nylon and spandex box.
This is not the case with Nike where even when Phil Knight left tomorrow, people will still demand swooshes on their shoes. Without Kim Skims is simply an expensive piece of underwear with good advertising. It is a dangerous offer at a valuation of $5 billion.
Quality Control or Quality Chaos
What you really get out of your money is another subject. There are numerous reviews about the customers and this is alarming as a brand that sells at high prices. Other individuals say that their Skims products have served them over the years and were worth all the money. Certain ones complain of seams tearing in a few washes, clothes pilling more quickly than a sweater we all claim not to shop at, and shapewear that has lost its clinginess sooner than I have lost my desire to do exercises.
The Fits Everybody line receives regular applause, and the recent product releases appear like in a hurry and haphazard. It is a challenge when you are growing as quickly as Skims can, i.e., becoming an omnichannel retail enterprise in six years, and quality control becomes a real issue. And at the prices of $68 to $98 the customers would expect a bodysuit that would last beyond three wash cycles.
The complaints on customer services are especially harmful. Several review websites refer to problems of contacting the support, complex returns, and problems with delivery of orders. As a company with a valuation of 5B, the impression of a customer service that operates as though it is being operated by three individuals in a basement is not a good look.
The Environmental Elephant in the Room
Recall when the packaging of Skims boasted of the I am not plastic and I am compostable? Mostly marketing smoke and mirrors, it is. The Changing Markets Foundation researched and discovered that the packaging was in fact LDPE- literally plastic 4. Not merely delusional, that is textbook greenwashing.
Organizations such as Good On Your published several times that the company received a Not Good Enough rating of environmental practices. They consume large amounts of artificial fabrics such as polyester and nylon (which are petroleum-based), give little information about their carbon footprint of their supply chain, and have been associated with factories in Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Myanmar having dubious labor practices.
When the activists demand fair pay, safe working environment, or environmental standards, Skims reacts with radio silence. In the case of a brand that has positioned itself as progressive and body-positive, the disconnection between marketing and actual practice is rather conspicuous.
So What’s the Real Value Here
After digging through all this, here’s my take on whether Skims really represents $4 billion (or now $5 billion): It all depends on what you are measuring.
Assuming you are doing a rough calculation of the fundamental business indicators, like profit margin, long-term growth, business ethics, supply chain, transparency, etc. then no, this valuation is overstated. Their major problems are concerning transparency, quality consistency and corporate responsibility that do not reflect the high-end image of which they are selling.
However, when you are gauging how well the culture is affected, how well the brand is known, and how well the product can be sold by the sheer vacuum of the power of a celebrity, perhaps. Skims has succeeded in becoming not just a shapewear company, but a status symbol. Whenever individuals discuss their Skims purchases, there feels a level of pride of uttering the brand name, as people did with boasting about their Lululemon leggings.
It is not the question of whether Skims is worth 5 billion money today but whether they can afford the value as they grow. Will they be able to open hundreds of stores and retain the quality? Are they able to venture into beauty and other businesses without watering down the brand? Will they be able to live when the star power of Kim Kardashian fades? Are they able to take care of the ethical issues prior to being PR disasters?
The Bottom Line on All This Shapewear Drama
Look, does Skims really represent $4 billion in genuine business value? The truthful response is: most likely no, but that is not necessarily important. We are living in an economy where perception can be even more important than reality, at least in the short run. The years preceding the Tesla numbers to match its valuation were when the company was overvalued. Amazon was running on losses as investors were gambling in their future supremacy. The market can at times value the potential instead of reality on the ground.
The distinction is that both Tesla and Amazon had visionary management with an apparent technological edge and outlined profitability strategies. Skims has… Kim Kardashian and a couple of very cozy bodysuits. Not that it’s nothing, don’t you know. But is it something worth 5 billion dollars? At this point I begin to question it.
Or perhaps the media are over-rating Skims, or they perceive something that we are not perceiving. What is evident is that such a valuation has more to do with hope and hype rather than the conventional business metrics. Trying to see whether Skims will actually be worth the astronomical valuation by 2026 will be one of the more fascinating retail stories. Are they the next great American fashion empire, or is this a lesson story on what should be done when the power of celebrity and venture capital meet?
In any case, I am holding on to my receipts and popcorn in hand as this plays out. Because whether you think Skims really represents $4 billion or not, you can not refute the fact that it is one hell of a story. And in the year 2026 when it all seems overpriced and nothing seems to make sense, perhaps that is what the market desires to purchase.