Besides starring on two popular reality shows alongside her equally famous family, Kim Kardashian is best known for starting Skims with Jens and Emma Grede. The company sells beautiful shapewear along with different types of clothing. And since Kim is known for her effortless style and for wearing neutrals all the time, it definitely fits into her lifestyle brand.
Skims seems to be doing well. However, the brand was in the news in May 2023 because Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, got a bag from Kim Kardashian that had some Skims products. What is the story behind this present? And why did Kim Kardashian decide to do this?
Why Did Kim Kardashian Send Karen Bass A Skims Swag Bag?
It does appear that Kim Kardashian is part of daily Skims operations. And in late May 2023, fans wondered why she had sent Karen Bass a bag including Skims shapewear.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kristen McGowan, who works for the Los Angeles Dodgers, sent a gift as well, and Maya Brenner sent a necklace that cost $97.
The Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said no to Kim's Skims swag bag, which also had hot sauce, makeup, and alcohol. This is because of a Los Angeles law that requires politicians who have been voted into government to share publicly when they have gotten a present that costs $50 or over that amount.
Politicians are also only allowed to receive a present that costs $590. Since everything in the swag bag totaled $600, Bass couldn't accept it.
Kim Kardashian's reasoning for sending the L.A. Mayor a swag bag from Skims appears to be unknown. The celebrity hasn't commented on what happened. And no one seems to be sure why she did this.
It's possible that Kim wanted to raise awareness of Skims and that she gives people swag bags all the time. These gifts are most likely kept private. In the case of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, the gift became big news because she couldn't actually accept it.
According to Politico, Karen Bass won the L.A. mayoral election in November 2022. She is the very first woman to hold the position. Bass ran against Rick Caruso. Eric Garcetti was the former mayor and held that position from 2013 to 2022.
While some might wonder if Kim Kardashian was trying to get the L.A. Mayor to do something for her by sending this gift, there doesn't seem to be any evidence of that.
In fact, according to The Hill, Kim actually put her support behind Bass's political opponent Caruso. He shared a video of Kim explaining, "I think that with him he can offer a better path to a better life for people that are homeless in California and in Los Angeles. I really believe in what he stands for. I was really inspired by him."
This isn't the first time that a Skims swag bag has made headlines. In November 2022, The Daily Dot reported that Dionna, who has the TikTok account @smwerbenjagermanjensen), said that Skims mailed her a bag with nothing inside of it.
Dionna explained in a video, “Granted, it’s a nice gift bag,” she says in the clip where she shows the red gift bag. After looking at the bag further. Maybe something went wrong, because this can’t—this isn’t right, right?” When her video was seen over 1.5 million times, people began wondering if this was done on purpose so people would talk about it.
According to The Daily Mail, Kim often gives the people in her life swag bags from Skims. When the Hulu series The Kardashians was about to come out in April 2022, the Kardashians mailed out swag. The note on the bag read, "Celebrate this highly-anticipated launch of The Kardashians with this special collection of self-care favorites from SKIMS, Kylie Skin, Good American, Poosh, 808, and Safely."
The Daily Mail also reported that back in 2019, when Kim celebrated her 39th birthday in Palm Springs, she made sure that her pals had some Skims items. She seems to like giving away her own shapewear on a regular basis.
What Controversies Have Kim Kardashians' Skims Been Part Of?
Kim Kardashian's brand Skims was also in the news when Kim originally planned to call the brand Kimono.
According to People, fans pointed out that kimonos are Japanese items of clothing and calling her brand this name would be appropriating a culture.
Kim said during Keeping Up With The Kardashians that Daisaku Kadokawa, the mayor of Kyoto, Japan, sent her a letter explaining why she should reconsider the name.
Kim explained, “He was very thoughtful and very kindly explaining to me the meaning of kimono and why that’s so important to their culture. Reading that letter, I felt an understanding. I definitely did not want to disrespect a culture.”
Kim also said, “My intention wasn’t ever to offend anybody. Foolishly and ignorantly, we never thought that it would be a problem."
There have been several other times when fans have talked about Skims... and not for positive reasons.
The Independent.co.uk reported that when Tyra Banks was a model promoting the brand, people thought that Photoshop was used too much on her. Fans pointed out that this was problematic since Skims says that they are all about embracing all shapes and sizes.
And in 2021, Kim herself was featured in an advertisement for Skims. People noticed that her finger seemed to be too long. TikTok user @alexkelly2014 asked "Who approved of this editing???" According to Teen Vogue, Skims explained that this was the result of a "glitch."
According to The Independent.co.uk, people also said that Skims was "greenwashing" in June 2022. While the brand says that it doesn't have any plastic packaging, Changing Markets Foundation said that wasn't the case. A type of plastic called "type 4" is present in the brand's logo.
Changing Markets Foundation said, “While this packaging might decompose in practice, as claimed, it is completely misleading to say that it is not plastic."
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