
Not long after Kim Kardashian West launched her shapewear brand Skims in 2019, pandemic lockdowns consigned its body-fitting product line to the back of consumers’ closets.
But Skims survived. Moreover, it has become a billion-dollar business.
The company has raised $154 million in new funding, which Ms. Kardashian West said had lifted its valuation to $1.6 billion. It is a heady amount for a not-quite two-year-old clothing brand, even one led by someone with her star power.
It also cements Ms. Kardashian West’s status as a billionaire in her own right. In announcing her entry into that club this week, Forbes estimated Skims’ value at much less than that. She will remain Skims’ biggest shareholder after the deal, and she and her business partner, Jens Grede, will control a majority stake.
her cosmetics line to the makeup giant Coty, valuing it at $1 billion. Her sister Kylie Jenner sold a majority stake in her own cosmetics line, also to Coty, in a deal that valued it at $1.2 billion.
Skims also isn’t Ms. Kardashian West’s first foray into clothing. She and her sisters Khloé and Kourtney had a line with Sears that essentially served as a licensing deal over which she had little control.
now-estranged husband, was “super involved” in the beginning, giving frank criticism of early designs for Skims packaging, she said.)