diff --git a/src/vector/index.ts b/src/vector/index.ts
index 87388799c3..e27129d9aa 100644
--- a/src/vector/index.ts
+++ b/src/vector/index.ts
@@ -110,7 +110,6 @@ async function start() {
         preparePlatform,
         loadOlm,
         loadConfig,
-        loadSkin,
         loadLanguage,
         loadTheme,
         loadApp,
@@ -160,10 +159,9 @@ async function start() {
         const loadLanguagePromise = loadLanguage();
         // as quickly as we possibly can, set a default theme...
         const loadThemePromise = loadTheme();
-        const loadSkinPromise = loadSkin();
 
         // await things settling so that any errors we have to render have features like i18n running
-        await settled(loadSkinPromise, loadThemePromise, loadLanguagePromise);
+        await settled(loadThemePromise, loadLanguagePromise);
 
         let acceptBrowser = supportedBrowser;
         if (!acceptBrowser && window.localStorage) {
@@ -211,7 +209,6 @@ async function start() {
         // assert things started successfully
         // ##################################
         await loadOlmPromise;
-        await loadSkinPromise;
         await loadThemePromise;
         await loadLanguagePromise;
 
diff --git a/src/vector/init.tsx b/src/vector/init.tsx
index e810d6c826..0e43700ae9 100644
--- a/src/vector/init.tsx
+++ b/src/vector/init.tsx
@@ -127,27 +127,6 @@ export async function loadLanguage() {
     }
 }
 
-export async function loadSkin() {
-    // Ensure the skin is the very first thing to load for the react-sdk. We don't even want to reference
-    // the SDK until we have to in imports.
-    logger.log("Loading skin...");
-    // load these async so that its code is not executed immediately and we can catch any exceptions
-    const [sdk, skin] = await Promise.all([
-        import(
-            /* webpackChunkName: "matrix-react-sdk" */
-            /* webpackPreload: true */
-            "matrix-react-sdk"),
-        import(
-            /* webpackChunkName: "element-web-component-index" */
-            /* webpackPreload: true */
-            // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/ban-ts-comment
-            // @ts-ignore - this module is generated so may fail lint
-            "../component-index"),
-    ]);
-    sdk.loadSkin(skin);
-    logger.log("Skin loaded!");
-}
-
 export async function loadTheme() {
     setTheme();
 }
diff --git a/test/skin-sdk.js b/test/skin-sdk.js
index eaeff52043..3a3067ea64 100644
--- a/test/skin-sdk.js
+++ b/test/skin-sdk.js
@@ -6,4 +6,4 @@
 
 import * as sdk from "matrix-react-sdk";
 import * as skin from "../src/component-index";
-sdk.loadSkin(skin);
+// sdk.loadSkin(skin);