Kim Kardashian and Jens Grede’s fast-growing Skims brand has opened its first European pop-up for its still-new Swim line and it’s starting big with one of the most in-demand pop-up spaces — The Corner Shop at Selfridges, London.
Running until 8 July, it’s not only the first European pop-up and the Swim line’s first dedicated UK physical space, but it’s the first time the offer will be available outside of the US.
Long-time brand collaborator Willo Perron of Perron-Toettinger has turned the space into an LA-swimming pool-inspired concept and as well as a diving board and surfboards setting the tone, there will be custom Skims ice creams from Chin Chin Labs.
Grede said the pop-up experience “will set the tone for the future of Skims in London, as the cultural and fashion destination is a key market for our global expansion”.
The brand is focused on growing Swim across the UK and in Europe, but London is clearly a crucial target market and it will open a permanent Selfridges concession later this year. Its wider European plans will see a number of standalone Skims stores opening over the next three years.
For now, its residency in The Corner Shop should see plenty of interest with a similar NYC pop-up last month having generated daily two-hour queues to get in.
The Skims brand is already popular at Selfridges and with UK shoppers, with its chief commercial officer having described its business with Selfridges so far as “unparalleled”.
Robert Norton said the company aims to establish Skims as a global brand, and “Selfridges London is the optimal starting point for the next phase” of its journey. He added that the pop-up experience and expansion of our permanent concessions at Selfridges “set the framework for our global retail strategy, and we will continue to leverage multi-brand partnerships this year as we plan to open 35 shop-in-shops in the US and internationally”.