Kim Kardashian had a long road to her SKIMS success.

Turns out she started thinking about shapewear in her teens.

The siren told Time magazine that she used to buy shapewear and dye it with coffee or tea to match her skin tone because the colors that were out there did not look like her olive coloring.

The next step was to make shapewear for all women and thus SKIMS was 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧.

Time launched one of their Most Influential Business covers featuring Kim for SKIMS on Tuesday. The issue hits newsstands this Friday.

Biz babe: Kim Kardashian had a long road to her SKIMS fame. Turns out she started thinking about shapewear in her teens

Crafty: The siren told Time magazine that she used to buy shapewear and dye it with coffee or tea to match her skin tone because the colors that were out there did not match her olive coloring; here Kim is seen in her SKIMS/Fendi collaboration

Kim admitted that when fame first came knocking on her door almost 20 years ago she was not sure what to do.

‘At the beginning, when I didn’t really understand where my career was going because I was just kind of winging it, I would do licensing deals with a lot of different companies that would contradict themselves, like a cupcake brand with a weight-loss pill at the same time,’ she said.

Skims, which first offered underwear and shapewear but expanded into loungewear, swimwear, tees, and dresses, has changed that—and the way the business world sees her.

And she was thrilled when SKIMS worked out: ‘I feel like, OK, I did it.’

SKIMS by the numbers: Founded in late 2019, Skims says it made $500 million last year, 25% more than projected and 80% more than it made in 2021, which was up 90% from the year before.

So far, 2023 has been a down year for underwear sales, but buoyant for Skims; CEO Jens Grede, who co-founded the company with his wife Emma and Kardashian, says that sales of its intimates increased 86% year over year in April.

In its latest round of funding in January 2022, the brand, which is privately held, was valued at $3.2 billion, double what it had been valued just nine months prior.

Cover girl: The next step was to make shapewear for all women and thus SKIMS was 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧

She makes swimwear too! Time launched one of their Most Influential Business covers featuring Kim for SKIMS on Tuesday. The issue hits newsstands this Friday

Co-Founder Jens Grede on Kim: Grede says Kardashian is one of the best creatives he’s worked with. ‘To be a successful creative director today, you’ve got to have a point of view of the world,’ said Grede.

‘You’ve got to have a very clear aesthetic that is identifiable to you, and you’ve got to be able to intimately understand popular culture.’ When he first showed Kardashian the packaging for Skims, she replied that it didn’t look like something you’d find in her home. It went back to the drawing board.

‘It was Kardashian’s idea to get Snoop Dogg and his grandkids to do the Christmas campaign and to use the two actresses who played grifters in White Lotus for another. ‘She knows how to orchestrate popular culture,’ says Grede.