Kim Kardashian Says She Created SKIMS While in a Very ‘Vulnerable’ Place: ‘It Started Off of My Body’

Kim Kardashian's SKIMS brand was born out of a very "vulnerable" place as she sought shapewear to fit her skin tone and body.

Kardashian, 42, has tried her hand at many different businesses, but the SKIMS brand is the one most personal to her. "It’s just a part of me," she said in her first TIME magazine cover story. "I take it really personally. It started off of my body and my shapes, and it’s very vulnerable."

The Kardashians star launched SKIMS with the help of Jens Grede, the husband of Emma Grede, who co-founded Good American with Khloé Kardashian. The brand launched at the start of the pandemic and offers 10 skin tones and sizes from XXS to 4X, as well as several shapes. Kardashian is the company's biggest shareholder and its creative director. 

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“It started off with simply finding shapewear that was a skin tone that would match my color,” Kardashian told TIME. "I used to take my shapewear and dye it with tea bags and coffee in the bathtub." 

Kardashian knew the brand was a success when she attended a Hollywood party where someone raised her top to show she was wearing a SKIMS product. "I still have, like, impostor syndrome or whatever," Kardashian told TIME. "But I think that’s part of what keeps me going.”

Kardashian previously mentioned her insecurities in a recent Kardashians episode filmed in Milan before the Dolce & Gabbana show she oversaw as creative director. Her stylist Danielle Levi could not join her at first, so she had to make some decisions on her own. “I was so insecure I couldn’t do anything without my security blanket, and now I can, and on a really big level," she said in a confessional.

It hasn't all been smooth sailing for Kardashian and SKIMS. The brand was initially called "Kimono," which drew controversy in Japan. In 2022, she reached a $1.26 million settlement with the SEC because she did not tell fans she was paid to promote a cryptocurrency. “What I learned was to not really trust everyone in spaces that you don’t really know about,” she told TIME. “I try to not make the same mistakes twice.”

Kardashian has also featured herself prominently in campaigns for SKIMS, but that might not last forever. “I understand that maybe in my 50s, I’m not going to be wanting to pose in my underwear,” Kardashian said, adding that she plans to reduce her appearances in campaigns each year. Despite this, Kardashian said she will "do anything" she can to "look as young" as she can. 

The reality star's next big venture is an acting role in FX's American Horror Story: Delicate, which will premiere this summer. Zachary Quinto, who has a cameo in the new season, told reporters he was impressed with Kardashian after meeting her.

"She seemed really in her element, and I was really impressed by her spirit and her openness,” Quinto said at the Tribeca Film Festival. “I really look forward to seeing this season because I think she’s gonna do a wonderful job.”