Kim Kardashian is celebrating a major milestone in her career as an entrepreneur and businesswoman.
On Saturday, October 5, the mega-star celebrated the fifth anniversary of Skims, the shapewear and clothing brand that she co-founded with retail entrepreneurs Jens and Emma Grede.
After turning the company into a $4 billion success over the course of those five years, Kim K and company have plenty to celebrate about.
‘What a journey! Celebrating 5 years of @SKIMS and sharing our brand story in this month’s Financial Times HTSI’ she shared in her Instagram post.
While Jens Grede looks after the operations side of things as CEO, The Kardashians star revealed during the interview with the publication, Kim handles the creative sides to the operations.
Kim Kardashian, 43, is celebrating her Skims brand being in business for five years
The reality star turned entrepreneur co-founded Skims with retail entrepreneurs Jens and Emma Grede in 2019, and in the five years being in business has been valued at $4 billion
‘I handle the visuals, all the ideas, fabrics, fits,’ Kim explained, before clarifying, ‘I’m the face of this brand.’
As the face of the brand, Kim has made her shapewear line a huge empire all over the world since she co-founded the brand in 2019.
While the company was launched as an online direct-to-consumer business with a core offering of updated shapewear, it has grown into a into a full-blown apparel company during those five years.
After selling more than three million products in its first year, Skims’s initial launch resulted in more than $2 million in profit and the company selling out of merchandise in 10 minutes.
After more stellar sales and further investments, the valuation of Skims was reported to be at $3.2 billion in January 2022.
Just two months later, in March, the brand made it to Time’s List of 100 Most Influential Companies of the year 2022.
Over these five years, the reality star turned entrepreneur has used her own image as part of the advertising and marketing, considering she’s one of the most famous and recognizable people in the world.
And by offering varying sizes to her array of items being sold she has also incorporated other models into the promotion of the company.
The success and popularity of Skims can be credited, in part, to its willingness to branch out; first by updating what shapewear looks like in 2020’s and then adding a variety of partnerships and collaborations, including many celebrities.
The face of Skims promoted her new cover story and interview in the new edition of the Financial Times HTSI
The Kardashians star gave more than a hint of her underwear in a sheer blue dress for the cover photo of the Financial Times magazine
In the new edition, which dropped this weekend, the business mogul discusses the building of the company and how its branched out and expanded in the products it offers
In another example of branching out, Kim and company made the move to launch a men’s underwear collection in October 2023 after hearing how guys were fans of the brand.
All the branching out and expansion has been sparked by heady earnings: revenue in 2023 was nearly $713 million, up almost 45-percent from the previous year, which came on the heels of an 80-percent increase in 2021.
Skims ‘has changed the way we look at the bodywear category, both as consumers and retailers,’ said Judd Crane, executive buying director at Selfridges, which opened the first permanent Skims shop-in-shop outside the U.S. in 2023. ‘It responds to customers’ desire for newness in intelligent, unexpected ways, blending solution-driven essentials with hot product and drop culture.’
Kim flashes her underwear in a figure-hugging sheer blue dress as covergirl for the new edition of Financial Times magazine HTSI featuring her interview.
In it, she flashes her ample cleavage and washboard abs while posing against a table of newspapers in the bold shoot.
Teasing the upcoming edition, HTSI wrote on Instagram: ‘Five years after founding @skims, @kimkardashian is sitting on a retail empire with a $4 billion market valuation.
‘For this week’s cover story, @mariashollenbarger meets the reality queen-turned-mogul in Los Angeles to unpack how she’s molding a new generation of shoppers’.
Thanks to the success of her business venture, the reality star has a personal net worth of $1.7 billion, which is a far cry from the mere $11 million her net worth was valued at when the family’s reality show premiered in 2007.
One way the company has branched out, compared to other companies, is by offering a wide variety of sizes and items, as well as a wide variety of models who represent its customers base
In another example of branching out, Kim and company made the move to launch a men’s underwear collection in October 2023 after hearing how guys were fans of the brand
At the start of her career, a lot of her wealth stemmed from her 14-year stint on the reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
The reality star pulled in a tidy $4.5 million per season as both executive producer and star of hit E! reality show which ran for 20 seasons.
By 2014, she launched mobile game app Kim Kardashian: Hollywood and it made $1.6 million in the first five days after its release. Then 2015 saw the release of her own range of Kimojis.
Another bulk of Kim’s wealth came thanks to her KKW Beauty company.
In 2019, the Product line raked in $100 million and she gained $200 million by selling a 20-percent stake in the company to Coty, the same company that bought her sister Kylie’s brand.
Her Skims shapewear launched in 2019 and has now become the mother-of-four’s biggest revenue generator.
In 2020, it was valued at a ‘conservative $225 million’ and that was the number Forbes used to value Kimat over $1 billion for the first time.
Elsewhere, the aspiring lawyer has started a private equity firm, called SKKY Partners, while she also earn up to $1 million for a paid Instagram post.
As the face of the brand, Kim has made her shapewear line a huge empire all over the world since she co-founded the brand in 2019
The TV star said: ‘I handle all the visuals, all the ideas, fabrics, fits. I’m the face of this brand’
In ithe five years of operation, Skims has become Kardashian’s biggest revenue generator
At last check, Kim’s net worth stands at $1.7 billion, according to Forbes’ calculations in 2023 following the latest round of funding for Skims
The Kardashian-Jenner family has gone on to star in The Kardashians for Hulu, which has already aired three seasons so far.
Reports suggested the Kardashians are earning ‘nine figures’ from the show, or around $16.6 million each.
Though Kim’s wealth bounces up and down through the year – at one point her net worth reached $1.9 billion in 2022 before falling to $1.2billion.
However, her net worth now stands at $1.7 billion, according to Forbes’ calculations in 2023 following the latest round of funding for Skims.
The mother of four is on par with her youngest sister Kylie Jenner, battling out to be the wealthiest of the sisters.
When Kylie was first thrust into the spotlight on her family’s reality show she was a sweet and innocent child while Kim was undoubtedly the most famous of the group.
Kim made history in 2014 as the first Kardashian to land a Vogue cover, gracing the American edition with her then-husband Kanye.
Yet 10 years on, her little sister Kylie, 27, has achieved her own milestone, becoming the first member of the family to appear on the front cover of British Vogue.
Kylie famously made it onto the billionaires list in March 2019 and in 2020 became Forbes youngest ‘self-made’ billionaire for the second year in a row.
Billionaire sisters Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian have been in healthy competition with their successful businesses over the years
The Kylie Cosmetics founder became the first member of her family to grace the front cover of British Vogue magazine, having previously appeared in Vogue Czechoslovakia and in a Hong Kong issue
Jenner famously made it onto the billionaires list in March 2019 and in 2020 became Forbes youngest ‘self-made’ billionaire for the second year in a row
The mother of four achieved official billionaire status in April 2021
She started her make up line in 2015 by selling $29 lipstick kits.
Then in November last year, she sold off 51% of her Kylie Cosmetics brand to beauty brand Coty Inc. for $600 million.
The deal, which closed in January, means her business is now valued at around $1.2 billion. She still solely owns the other 49 percent stake.
The site also reveals that money from the sale means she is one of just 2,095 people in the world with a fortune of 10 digits.
