ounder of British-born workout brand Gymshark. During the panel, Grede and Francis touched upon the strategies they incorporate, from culture-defining product drops to strategic storytelling across platforms, to build brands that will one day define the 21st century.  As Finkelstein told the audience, “The scale and velocity of Skims and Gymshark are unlike anything any of us have ever seen in the retail industry. Ben [Francis] started this company when he was just 19 years old, and less than two decades later, Gymshark is frankly one of the greatest brands on the planet. What Emma [Grede] has done with Skims is equally as remarkable.” Today’s retail era barely resembles that of previous generations, Finkelstein noted, especially with the rise of agentic AI, which brands like Gymshark and Skims have been quick to adopt.  “I think that we’re in the midst of a really seismic change, and while I am not entirely certain about what that’s going to bring, I am open to everything,” stated Grede.  “Any big decision that we take in our company ultimately has to be led by our customers, and our customers are already there. They’re already using AI, and it informs their purchase decisions every day. So for me [adopting AI] was an easy yes, and not in a way where I took that lightly, but in that you have to try new things and learn early.” How to scale a brand without losing its soul  When asking the audience, which included retail executives of various ages, genders, and nationalities, how many had purchased an item from either Skims or Gymshark, a fair number of attendees raised their hands.  As difficult as it is to scale a brand for one set consumer market segment in one area, such as North America, it is even more challenging to grow a brand focused on capturing the attention of several consumer groups across multiple global retail markets. This brings to mind the ever-tricky balance of growing a company to household-name status on a global scale without risking losing a brand’s soul after a certain inflection point.  “This idea of scale is something that I obsess about because I have this hypothesis that there will be more billion-dollar brands created in the next decade than in the entirety of the last century,” said Finkelstein. While scaling a brand quickly is highly impressive, the Shopify president argued that building at a sustainable pace that will help maintain the company’s longevity is even more so.  Finkelstein said, “What’s interesting for both of you [Francis and Grede] is that even with this massive scale, you both have the DNA of a much smaller company.” To which Gymshark’s Francis responded, “I have no ambition to start any other business, do any other job or work anywhere else other than GymShark. We talk a lot internally about building a 100-year brand, which is a really tough ask, but what this really does is focus our mindset on the long term versus just the next quarter.” Even from day one of the business, when there were suggestions that Gymshark should focus on other fitness categories outside of weight lifting and strength training, like pilates, Francis eschewed those tips to better focus on the core of the brand’s offerings.  “We found that as we’ve narrowed our product base and our focus, and we’ve really tried to become sharp on what we can be the best in the world at, the business has grown far more quickly than if we were trying to sort of appeal to everyone.” Today, Gymshark reached about a billion in sales, the vast majority of which was accrued via e-commerce. While plans are in the works to add more brick-and-mortar stores to Gymshark’s arsenal, Francis emphasized the importance of cultivated growth.  “It would be very easy for us now to say our stores are working and to go ahead and open 100 stores, which we could double that revenue very quickly. But we really want to be thoughtful with our expansion, as we don’t want to open 100 stores just to close 50. We want to do this the right way for our business, because it’s so easy to over-expand and alienate that core customer. The second that we do that, it’s very difficult to recover from,” concluded Francis.  Similarly, Grede emphasized the importance of resisting the urge to do everything at once and taking strategic steps when building brand awareness and product sales, so as not to burn a brand out right away.  “When you have explosive growth in a business, with that comes so much opportunity, but it’s also about constantly reigning yourself in. Just because you can, doesn’t necessarily mean you should. Exercising restraint continuously is what keeps us super relevant to customers.” The Skims co-founder pointed out that even though Skims is one of the most duped brands on the market today, there is a reason customers keep coming back for the original product.  “With a product, you can replicate a silhouette, a colorway and a fabrication to a certain extent, but you can’t replicate a feeling. I think that being really true to who you are and to your customers, and being steadfast in your vision, resisting the urge to do everything, is what has kept the company in a really healthy but also aspirational place for our customer base. Because they believe in what it is that we’re giving them and they know that we’ve spent three years perfecting one thing and that really pays dividends.” Skims and Gymshark are living in a golden age of retail As Finkelstein rounded out the panel, he commented that he is looking forward to seeing how Gymshark and Skims scale both businesses in a year from now.  He commended Grede and Francis for their courage in taking risks while maintaining their intentions, thereby remaining loyal to their brands’ core values.  Quoting Grede on how Skims doesn’t care about analyzing trend reports, but instead focuses on setting the trend with intriguing, new product drops, Finkelstein added that both brands are an inspiration in today’s hyper-competitive industry.  “I’m not trying to be overly dramatic when I say this, but it does feel like we are living in the golden age of retail, and the people that we all look up to, both of you and your companies.” Be it a gymwear brand focused on catering to a specialized sector of the athletic wear market, or a shapewear and lifestyle brand that is intrepid enough to launch items like the Skims Ultimate Nipple Push Up Bra, the brands that will define the 21st century are those that keep a sharpened focus on their core values and creativity. Further reading: Day three at NRF: How retailers like Target are bracing themselves for 2026