Stories

From TikTok to TJ Maxx: How Skimpies Rewrote the DTC Playbook

Aleena Hassan

20 Jun 2025 — 3 min read

Most mid-sized Shopify brands follow a well-worn roadmap: launch DTC, scale through paid ads, then aim for Sephora or Target. Skimpies didn’t get the memo. The TikTok-native brand just made its first national retail appearance—not at a luxury boutique, but at TJ Maxx and Marshalls, signaling a bold new approach to DTC growth (Modern Retail).

This isn’t just an offbeat expansion move. It’s a calculated shift—and a signal to DTC founders that the rules are changing.

TikTok Shop Was the Launchpad

Skimpies, which sells organic peel-and-stick panty liners for leggings, found its breakout moment not in a CPM dashboard, but on TikTok. One viral video by founder Bette Bentley hit nearly 6 million views. Thousands of orders followed—before the brand even integrated TikTok Shop (Modern Retail).

Once integrated, Bentley’s daily livestreams drove 10x month-over-month sales growth by March, entirely without paid ads.

This aligns with broader platform trends. In 2025, TikTok Shop U.S. sales rose 120% year-over-year, with 83% of users discovering products and 76% buying directly through livestreams (TikTok Newsroom).

“TikTok Shop volume is still small; even big brands aren’t replacing core sales channels with it.” —Sean Frank

Still, Skimpies’ early wins highlight what happens when authentic content meets real-time selling.

Bentley didn’t rely on Facebook ads or a subscription model. Instead, she built the “Skimpies Sisters” community through consistent livestreams and founder-led storytelling. But even with momentum, relying solely on livestreams created friction—so she pivoted again.

Off-Price Retail: From Taboo to Tactic

For years, DTC brands quietly dumped inventory into off-price retailers—never marketing it, never owning it. Bentley flipped that playbook.

Skimpies launched a limited drop at TJ Maxx and Marshalls, openly promoting it like a TikTok event. The result? Fans went hunting, sharing haul videos, and treating in-store finds like treasure (Modern Retail).

Consumer behavior supports the move. Gen Z and millennial shoppers drove 6% sales growth at TJX in 2023, thanks in part to TikTok-driven foot traffic (PYMNTS).

“The stigma around off-price has faded,” says Katie Thomas of the Kearney Consumer Institute (Modern Retail).

Skimpies treated retail like content—creating scarcity, FOMO, and brand visibility in a space most founders avoid.

Omnichannel Isn’t a Channel Strategy. It’s a Mindset.

Bentley didn’t pivot from DTC to retail—she blended them. TikTok created discovery. TJ Maxx extended access. Each channel complemented the other.

This is what omnichannel 2.0 looks like: not just being “where your customers are,” but designing channel moves around behavior.

Founders can borrow the move. Livestreams create hype. Off-price drops reduce friction. SMS recovery tools like LiveRecover close the loop for window shoppers who abandon carts mid-funnel.

It’s not about selling everywhere—it’s about owning every moment in the buyer’s journey.

What Skimpies Teaches Every DTC Brand

Skimpies isn’t a fluke—it’s a fast case study in DTC adaptation.

Here’s what founders should extract:

Don’t overindex on paid: TikTok organic reach can outperform ad-heavy growth plans (Nik Sharma)
Own the off-price conversation: Treat retail like a brand-builder, not a liquidation channel
Think event-based: Bentley made every drop feel like a live product moment
Community > CRM: The “Skimpies Sisters” aren’t just email subscribers—they’re advocates
Adapt your channel mix fast: Performance marketing is not enough (Eli Weiss)