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Skims loungewear: Has Kim Kardashian’s brand delivered on comfort and fit?
Famed for its size-inclusive shapewear, we ask if the latest launch will become a lockdown 3.0 staple
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Your support makes all the difference.While you might have been looking forward to seeing the back of loungewear in 2021, it’s a wardrobe essential that is here to stay thanks to England’s latest national lockdown.
Bridging the gap between comfortable and presentable, loungewear pieces have carried us through months of working from home. The category has soared during the pandemic, with retailers such as Net-A-Porter reporting an increase in sales of up to 70 per cent during the first national lockdown, with brands both old and new contining to respond to the demand for elevated comfort.
From Noughties favourite Ugg creating its signature fluffy slider, to luxury pyjama brands such as Sleeper and Desmond and Dempsey creating pieces which blissfully blur the lines between sleepwear and daywear, we’ve truly been making a statement with our casualwear.
Kim Kardashian’s fashion brand Skims tapped into the loungewear market ahead of its surge in popularity, launching its first “cozy collection” in December 2019.
Lauded for its diverse range of high-quality shapewear, the brand took the market by storm when it first launched. Much like the “Fenty Beauty effect” in the make-up industry, Skim’s first underwear line shed light on the lack of diversity in shapewear, and was far more inclusive in both size and shade offerings than the industry leader Spanx.
So how does Skims’s loungewear fare in such a burgeoning market? We put its latest soft lounge launch to the test, taking size range, fit, quality, comfort and price into account. At £87 a set, it’s a mid-range price point which veers on the side of luxury, and, from a brand that claims to accommodate all bodies, we had high expectations. Read on for everything you need to know.
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Skims soft loungewear sleep set: £87, Skims
A brand known for simple, high-quality staples that offer the perfect fit, this recently launched loungewear feels in keeping with Skims’s aesthetic. Featuring a traditional menswear-inspired sleep top with matching trousers, the set is made from a ribbed modal and spandex fabric mix that feels gorgeously soft. Known for its breathable qualities, the fabric has a comfortable stretch and that weighty, sleek feeling you expect from pricier loungewear. Available in six neutral colours, we plumped for the copper shade, which looked just as rich upon arrival as it did on the site.
Available in UK sizes 2 to 26, this set lives up to the brand’s size-inclusive approach. Considering popular pyjama brand Sleeper has only recently extended its size range to go up to a UK size 18 in selected products (why not the whole collection?), Skims is arguably changing the game in the luxury loungewear sphere.
Our only gripe with the Skims site is that it doesn’t offer a UK conversion size chart, which makes it slightly trickier to find the right size. But we love the “see in your size” function, which shows the set on different models. The brand is also stocked in Selfridges, which does offer a UK size conversion chart, which you could also use for reference even if you were ordering directly from Skims.
The trousers came up very long on us and, at 5ft 7in, we’re taller than average, so we’d like to see different lengths become available. But aside from the trouser length, we’d say that this loungewear fits true to size.
Despite an intended baggier fit it manages to remain really flattering, with a hidden drawstring waist inside the trousers allowing you to further customise the fit.
It’s a no-frills set that focuses on fabric quality and fit rather than statement details, but it’s perfect for both lounging and sleeping in. It does, however, veer on the pyjama-style side, so it wouldn’t work for a Zoom meeting. The brand recommends machine washing on cold, but we washed ours at 30C and let it dry naturally, and had no issues. We’ve not wanted to take ours off since it arrived.
The verdict: Skims loungewear
While other brands have banked on statement loungewear pieces during its surge in popularity, Skims has stuck to its simple yet high-quality designs – a decision that has paid off. We were impressed with how comfortable this set was and felt that the soft fabric and flattering fit justified the price point.
However, we would like to see the brand offer different trouser lengths, as anyone shorter than us would have struggled with the length of these. With that said, we have to praise the general size range, as stocking up to a UK size 26 is sadly still unusual. We’d like to see other brands follow suit.
For more on Skims, read our review of the brand’s shapewear, which we put head to head with Spanx