Kim Kardashian's $4bn SKIMS empire no better than TEMU, says bombshell new report

Kim Kardashian's SKIMS has become a high-end shapeware brand loved worldwide, but a damning report has revealed the company has a dark side.

Remake, a global advocacy group, gave the $4 billion clothing giant a zero score in its 2024 accountability report which assesses brands' transparency, wages and wellbeing of employees, environmental impact and sustainability goals.

The zero placed SKIMS dead last, alongside fast fashion giant Temu that has been accused of forced labor and selling products deemed unsafe to human health.

The report blasted Kardashian's company for its carbon emissions, use of materials harmful to health and environment and unfair working conditions at a supply factory in South East Asia.

Even before the assessment was released in March, Kardashian's company was under fire for unethical working conditions in a factory in Myanmar. 

Bogart Lingerie (Yangon) Limited - a Myanmar-based garment supplier that SKIMS worked with until at least April 2022 - had been accused of inhumane work rates (including unpaid overtime), wage theft and gender-based harassment and violence. 

The supplier has denied these allegations, and the SKIMS website claims that 'all of our warehouse and factory workers are ensured fair wages, safe environments and healthy working conditions.' 

It's unclear whether Kardashian still works with this supplier or others in Myanmar because the company has never published a full list of its suppliers. 

In fact, SKIMS provides zero transparency about their supply chain traceability, according to the Remake report. 

But the company has previously stated that their products were sourced in Thailand, China and Turkey, and produced in Thailand and China.

In 2022, SKIMS was accused of greenwashing after the company falsely labelled its packaging as plastic-free, compostable and made from plants. 

'I AM NOT PLASTIC,' appears in bold letters on each packaged.

'I am compostable made from plants. I will biodegrade in your home compost and in an industrial compost facility.' 

In reality, the packaging is made from type-4 plastic, or low-density polyethylene (LDPE), which is recyclable but not biodegradable. 

SKIMS is one of 15 companies assessed in Remake's report that have not committed to set any science-based emissions reduction targets. 

Within this group, SKIMS is also one of 10 companies which have not disclosed any information on their carbon emissions, or set any goals to reduce emissions.

The report goes on to show that SKIMS garments are primarily made from materials that directly contribute to environmental pollution, deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions. 

Kardashian herself has been sued by members of her gardening and maintenance crew, who are not associated with the SKIMS brand but are her employees. 

The employees claimed the star never paid on time, wouldn't allow for meal breaks and fired one on the spot for asking about overtime pay. 

Remake's assessment also revealed a stark lack of transparency around supply-chain traceability, wages and wellbeing of employees, environmental impact and sustainability goals.

'They don't disclose anything,' Alexa Roccanova, senior advocacy manager at Remake and a co-author of the report, told Sourcing Journal.

'They have a few statements saying that they produce with suppliers that share their ethical commitments, that kind of thing, but nothing that they say is backed by data. Not to mention that everything they produce is heavily reliant on fossil-fuel-based materials,' she said.

SKIMS products are made primarily from conventional cotton and rayon (a synthetic fabric made from wood pulp), according to the report. 

Conventional cotton farming is associated with extensive use of pesticides and other agricultural chemicals that contaminate rivers, lakes, wetlands, and underground aquifers. This practice also significantly degrades soil and drives erosion.

Rayon has been touted as an eco-friendly material because it comes from a renewable resource - trees. But harvesting wood contributes to deforestation, and producing the pulp requires large quantities of acid and toxic chemicals that pollute air and water.

SKIMS manufacturing also relies heavily on oil-derived materials such as polyester and spandex, the production of which emits massive amounts of greenhouse gases. 

According to the most recent data available, polyester production for textiles produced roughly 1.5 trillion pounds of greenhouse gases in 2015 - the equivalent of 185 coal-fired power plants' annual emissions.

The only information that SKIMS has published on their commitment to sustainability can be found in a statement on their website.

'At SKIMS, we are committed to the highest ethical standards and legal compliance in all aspects of our business and product supply chain. We only work with suppliers and vendors who we believe in and share our commitment to sustainability, accountability and transparency,' the statement reads.

SKIMS did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment. 

Remake's annual reports investigate key questions about the ethics of the world's leading fashion brands, including whether they set and achieve carbon emissions goals, pay their workers fairly and promote diversity within the company.

As it does with every company it evaluates, Remake asked SKIMS to disclose information about the company's operations prior to the assessment to ensure their evaluation would be as fair as possible. 

Out of 52 total companies assessed, SKIMS was among the 28 that declined to share this information.

Because of this, Remake was forced to rely on the company's publicly available information about their operations to calculate their score. 

'Scores are dependent on public disclosures and reflect the extent of a company's transparency,' the report states. 

Remake scored companies on a  scale of zero to 150.

A score of zero indicates the least possible level of transparency, goal-setting and progress towards those goals, whereas a score of 150 indicates the ideal level of transparency and action.

The highest scoring company was Everlane, an American clothing retailer, which earned a score of 40. 

This is still far from the highest possible score. The report shows that Everlane and other companies at the top of the list have demonstrated that they are prioritizing ethical and sustainable operations. 

But they 'still have a lot of room for improvement,' the report states. 

This scrutiny doesn't appear to be holding SKIMS back from opening permanent stores across the US and internationally, and expand its line of menswear. 

But there's a chance that the company's murky social and environmental standing could impact their ability to appeal to more ethically-minded shoppers, Roccanova told Sourcing Journal.

'I'm not convinced that the SKIMS customer cares about climate change, but other customers prospective customers do. So I think if they want to remain leaders in this space, they're going to have to adapt,' she said.