How Kim Kardashian West entered the 3-comma club

Keeping Up With the Kardashians may be ending, but Kim Kardashian West is just getting her show on the road.

Forbes estimates Kardashian West is now worth $1B, up from $780m in October. How’d she shape into the billionaire she is today?

Shapewear. A whole lot of shapewear.

In 2019, Kardashian West launched Skims. Today, the not-even 2-year-old brand is on fire:

• Skims did $145m in sales last year and predicts $300m in 2021
• The brand has sold 4m+ units and has a customer retention rate of 30%+

Skims just raised $154m at a $1.6B valuation led by Thrive Capital, a VC firm that has backed Warby Parker and Glossier.

Kardashian West knows her stuff

She’s deeply involved in the business, helping design fabrics, choose photographers, and review sales data.

When the shapewear category saw sales dip 30% in 2020, she led a pivot toward pajamas and loungewear.

Now, Skims is “your basics go-to” that’s “still able to keep that shapewear core,” Kardashian West told The New York Times while prepping for a shoot.

It’s not Kim’s first venture

In 2017, Kardashian West launched KKW Beauty, a cosmetics brand that sold 300k contour kits in its first 2 hours and eventually hit ~$100m in revenue.

She recently sold 20% of KKW to cosmetics giant Coty for $200m at a $1B valuation. Forbes estimates her remaining stake is worth $500m.

Oh, and don’t forget her supplemental income: ~$20m from the family’s TV show, and a reported $1m per sponsored Instagram post.