This week on Most Innovative Companies, I interviewed Skims CEO Jens Grede. Los Angeles-based Grede, who also runs Brady, football great Tom Brady’s athletic line, and previously co-founded luxury fashion brand Frame, shared some insights on how to build a brand around an influencer that will stand the test of time. Though Skims just launched in 2019, it already has achieved a whopping $4 billion valuation. Here’s a look at the Skims playbook.

You can build a brand with an influencer, but make sure it can still stand on its own.

Grede compared building Skims with Kim Kardashian to Nike building Air Jordan with Michael Jordan: “Kim Kardashian is the Michael Jordan of the influencer generation. Going back a couple of decades, about 20% of American teens . . . wanted to be a professional athlete. Today, 20% of American teenagers want to be a creator. So to me it’s pretty obvious that [Kardashian] has created and set and been a huge part in shaping that culture.”

Be your own consumer.

The secret behind Skims’s viral ad campaigns featuring up-and-coming and established stars like Ice Spice and Snoop Dogg? Consuming the same media and products your customers do to participate in the cultural conversation. “Kim and I both loved The White Lotus,” Grede says. “Once it ended it was pretty obvious to us that we were going to go on a great awards run. . . . Getting actresses Simona Tabasco and Bea Grannò to model our Valentine’s Day collection felt like a no-brainer.”

Take accountability, fast.

Skims was originally named Kimono, a culturally insensitive name that upset many customers. Grede acknowledges the mistake, saying, “The most important thing is that we listened to our customers and we apologized. We understood that the idea to name the company Kimono was insensitive. As long as you take accountability and are willing to adapt and say sorry and be straight with your audience, you can move swiftly on from it. It was our mistake and we owned it.”

Create your own market.

To create Skims, Grede took inspiration from coffee megachain Starbucks. “Starbucks created a market. America had not adopted the Frappuccino, and Starbucks made us adopt it,” he says. “Starbucks, much like Skims, is priced at a slight premium, but they are bringing you a totally different experience that I think is value for money. They have also found ways to innovate and keep customers engaged with things like the Pumpkin Spice Latte.”