Fashion PR has been rebuilt twice. Skims, Aritzia, and Lululemon ran the playbook on both shifts — celebrity founder, TikTok hero product, ambassador community. The actual mechanics behind three fashion brands that now own AI-engine answers about modern apparel.
In 2011, Kim Kardashian stripped down for a Skechers Super Bowl ad. A decade later she wasn't endorsing brands — she was building one worth $5 billion. The arc between those two facts is the most instructive story in celebrity endorsement.
From a 2007 reality pilot to a $5 billion shapewear company — the definitive map of how Kim Kardashian's public image was built, broken, rebuilt, and converted into an operating business, phase by phase.
She didn't get famous by accident. The reality show, the magazine covers, SKIMS — every move runs through a publicity engine most consumer brands would study for a decade. Here's the five-move Kardashian PR playbook, including the CMO-led brand architecture under Tracy Romulus.
Kim Kardashian is the original influencer — 355 million Instagram followers turned into an owned distribution system and the primary customer-acquisition channel for a $5 billion business. How the social-media publicity engine actually works.