NikeSKIMS latest drop: consumer backlash over athletic credentials

NikeSKIMS’ latest drop has landed but without the fanfare Nike and Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand were presumably hoping for.

The new collection – including a bandeau top and a short-legged, plunging romper – has drawn a wave of criticism online, with commenters questioning both its practicality and its intended purpose.

Reactions on Skims’ Instagram page ranged from “The shorts keep riding up and the straps constantly slip off the shoulders” to “Please make sportswear for real body types,” with several users asking outright which sport the pieces were actually designed for.

Memes, mockery and tiny weights

The backlash has since spilled into memes and outright mockery. On the style itself, users have quipped on the Instagram posts “Nike x Borat,” and “I have my own home gym and I don’t even want to be alone with myself in this.”

Other comments have pointed to the impracticality of training in a strapless bra and wide-leg trousers –  “Because who doesn’t like a little wardrobe malfunction at the gym” –  and drawing attention to the light weights the model is holding: “The tiniest weights imaginable because [sic] thats all this outfit can handle,”  “They look like the silver rattles I got as gifts when my twins were born.”   

The consensus among critics is that the collection, whatever its merits for Skims’ existing customer base, is simply not designed with athletic performance in mind – a notable gap for a brand co-founded by the world’s most recognizable performance sportswear company.

The gap between the pitch and the product

NikeSKIMS was announced in February 2025 as a new standalone brand merging Nike’s sport science and innovation credentials with SKIMS’ focus on fit, inclusivity and the female form. The collaboration was positioned not as a product line but as a fully independent brand, targeting what both companies described as an underserved gap in performance apparel for women.

The debut collection launched in September 2025, spanning seven collections and 58 silhouettes, with a campaign – Bodies at Work, directed by Janicza Bravo – featuring more than 50 athletes including Jordan Chiles, Sha’Carri Richardson and Serena Williams. The range covered three core performance lines – Matte, Shine and Airy – alongside four seasonal collections.

From the outset, functionality was central to the brand’s identity. Nike described the NikeSKIMS system of dress as taking “a head-to-toe approach, featuring layers that support and move with women’s bodies,” with flattering lines, sculpting fabrics and neutral colorways offering a complete wardrobe solution “created to help them look, feel and perform their best.”

Not Nike’s first stumble

The new SKIMS campaign is one of several recent marketing missteps to dent Nike’s brand.

Ahead of the 2026 Boston Marathon, Nike posted a window display at its Newbury Street store – a few hundred metres from the finish line – reading “Runners Welcome. Walkers Tolerated.” Images went viral on April 13; the sign came down on April 18. The backlash was swift, with the criticism cutting deepest from adaptive and para athletes. Nike issued an apology, acknowledging it had “missed the mark.”

The episode was compounded by Asics, which had no official sponsorship either, quietly installing a nearby billboard reading “Runners. Walkers. All Welcome” – a pointed contrast that needed no press conference to land. 

A final angle seen in the comments is from (often female owned) businesses, offering their own female-specific products; designed for women, by women, with functionality in mind.

Nike spent decades convincing women sport is for them. Whether NikeSKIMS can close the gap between its “perform their best” promise and the products landing in stores may determine if this becomes a lasting fixture in women’s activewear – or a cautionary tale in what happens when performance credibility is promised and not delivered.

Cover image source: x.com/skims