NikeSKIMS is adding outerwear just as Nike sales slide. The new University Red Collection brings the brand’s first jackets, a bold University Red shade, and fresh colors for its Rift shoe.
SKIMS announced the University Red Collection on Oct. 19, and Nike confirmed the new outerwear the same day. The collection goes on sale globally Oct. 22 at 10 a.m. ET at nike.com/NikeSKIMS and SKIMS.com/NikeSKIMS, with select Nike, SKIMS, and partner stores to follow.
The outerwear comes in two new fabrics. Sherpa uses Nike Therma-FIT for warmth across a vest, a half-zip jacket, and a hooded jacket. Crunchy Nylon is water-repellent and comes as a cropped jacket, a hooded parka, a 2-inch short, and wide-leg pants.
The jackets are an investment. As of Oct. 21, SKIMS listed the Crunchy Nylon cropped jacket in University Red at $198 and the Sherpa hooded jacket at $298. Nike listed the Crunchy Nylon hooded parka at $248.
University Red also runs through the Matte, Weightless Layers, and Performance Cotton Blend lines, plus footwear and accessories. The NikeSKIMS Rift Satin shoe adds University Red and Shadow Brown alongside the returning Silt Red. The campaign stars the cheer team from the University of Alabama in the U.S., the reigning Universal Cheerleaders Association Division 1A champions.
“I’m especially excited about the University Red colorway. It’s bold, effortless and brings so much energy to the collection.”
– Kim Kardashian, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of SKIMS
SKIMS Announces the NikeSKIMS Rift Satin in University Red on IG
Why Nike needs NikeSKIMS right now
Nike expects its sales to shrink this year. Meanwhile, Kim Kardashian’s shapewear and apparel brand, SKIMS, keeps getting bigger. Here’s what each side gets from the partnership.
Nike reported $11.2 billion in revenue for its fiscal first quarter, which ended Aug. 31, 2026. That’s down 4% from a year earlier. Nike Direct sales, which cover Nike’s own stores, website, and app, fell 8%. Nike expects full-year revenue to fall by a high-single-digit percentage. However, there were a few bright spots for Nike. North America apparel sales rose 6%.
On Nike’s Oct. 1 earnings call, Nike CEO Elliott Hill described six days of Nike events around a college football game in Austin, Texas. He said the students lined up as early as 5:30 a.m. to shop at the company’s SKIMS pop-up. Hill called moments like that remind him Nike’s strategy is right.
The bigger prize is women. Nike and SKIMS announced NikeSKIMS in February 2025 as Nike tried to win over more women and compete with Lululemon, Alo Yoga, and Vuori. The first NikeSKIMS drop reportedly sold out within hours.
NikeSKIMS also gives Nike something new to sell in China, its toughest market. Greater China revenue fell 22% last quarter. NikeSKIMS entered China on Sept. 16, 2026, and opened a pop-up at HKRI Taikoo Hui in Shanghai, China, on Sept. 29. The pop-up runs through February 2027.
What SKIMS gets from NikeSKIMS
SKIMS gets Nike’s performance fabrics, stores, and global reach. That matters for a brand that was valued at $5 billion in November 2025. SKIMS’ last reported valuation, after raising $225 million in a round led by Goldman Sachs. SKIMS was nearing $1 billion in annual net sales at the time and said it would use the money for new stores, international growth, and new categories. Outerwear and footwear check that last box.
The partnership has already paid off at SKIMS’ own shop. Card data from Consumer Edge, a consumer data company, showed that in the first two days of NikeSKIMS, Sept. 26 and 27, 2025, sales at SKIMS.com and SKIMS stores more than doubled from a year earlier. The number of shoppers rose more than 50%, and the average purchase grew more than 30%. Consumer Edge linked part of that jump to NikeSKIMS pieces costing more than core SKIMS styles.
So the NikeSKIMS University Red Collection works for both brands. Nike gets a women’s brand with buzz while its core sales slip. SKIMS gets to sell jackets and sneakers with Nike technology without building a performance business from scratch. Neither company owns the other. The financial terms of the deal have never been disclosed.
Sources: Nike, Complex, Nike Q1 fiscal 2027 results, Nike Q1 fiscal 2027 earnings call, CNBC, Consumer Edge, Nike China, Business Insider, CNBC
Money Lesson
Buzz isn’t a number in the results
Nike talks up NikeSKIMS, and its CEO points to students lining up at 5:30 a.m. to shop. But Nike doesn’t report NikeSKIMS sales on their own, so nobody outside the company can tell how much the partnership actually adds to Nike’s results. That’s common when a big company has a hot product or collab. The buzz gets the headlines, while the numbers stay inside the company’s totals. When a company you follow brags about a hit, check whether its results break that hit out. If they don’t, judge the company by what it does report. For Nike, that’s revenue down 4% last quarter and a forecast for a full-year drop.
Think of us as your money-savvy best friend, not your financial adviser. This story is for information and fun, not personal advice, so talk to a licensed professional before you make any big money moves.
