If you’re one of Kylie Jenner’s 390 million Instagram followers, or simply someone who scrolled social media during Coachella, you might have clocked there’s something going on at her fashion brand Khy.
After a series of teaser posts surfaced featuring Jenner and co at weekend two of Coachella, with diamante, Khy-branded tattoos, we can confirm: Jenner is “refreshing” the fashion label she launched in late 2023, with a new business model, a new design language and a new website. As for the new collectsion, it will be available tomorrow, April 28, on Khy.com.
Khy was originally built on a collaboration model, with drops every couple of months, ranging from slick leather jackets by Berlin label Namilia, puffer Jackets from Entire Studios, bikinis by celeb-favorite Frankie’s Bikinis, to corseted dresses from Dilara Findikoglu. In between, the brand would release drops of basics, which spanned whimsical cotton poplin to bodycon jersey separates. Each Khy collectsion felt both unique and different from the last. And so when Jenner came to think about what a Khy store might look like last year, she struggled to nail down the image. That’s when she realized it was time to focus the brand.
“The starting point was, what is Khy in a physical place? And there was nothing that came to the top of my head,” Jenner tells me, speaking over Zoom a couple of weeks out from the launch. “So we started to think, what are we? What are our colors? And we started from there.”
Now, with a brand-new creative team, Jenner has taken a year to redefine Khy’s central design language, with the hopes of building a more cohesive output. “My style is always evolving. I think everything is a learning process,” she says. “I loved all our collaborations, I loved having the opportunity to work with some of my favorite designers. But I want Khy to feel permanent versus trend-based. I want to really define who we are.”
As she smartly did with Kylie Cosmetics’s cult lip kits in the 2010s, Jenner knows how to capitalize on her aesthetic influence. And the first refreshed Khy collectsion is almost a ‘greatest hits’ of Jenner’s renowned style. Think baby tees in pastel hues, baggy jeans with fitted waists, snatched-waist utility jackets, and lightweight sweats. The mood board featured lots of ’90s street style, Jenner says. “You’ll see that inspiration in the oversized silhouettes, relaxed fits, pieces like the cargo shorts, pants, and layered tees, and the overall vibe of the collectsion,” she says. Each drop will build on these basics, slowly ramping up the detailing and design codes. “Fall/Winter is our most fashion-based drop.”
Denim, which has always been a Khy bestseller, remains a focus for its second act, Jenner says. From paisley, embellished denim co-ords in multiple colorways and lengths, to various washes of baggy jeans, the denim range was teased by Jenner and her mega-influencer besties during Coachella weekend two — the posts featuring the styled pieces, naturally, garnered hundreds of thousands of views.
“Born in LA”, referencing Jenner’s (very public) Angeleno upbringing, is a central message of the Khy relaunch. The brand has relocated the vast majority of its denim production to the Californian city, which was a priority for Jenner. “We really wanted to take our denim and make it even better, all based out of LA, which I’m super proud of,” she says. Meanwhile, the embellished belts, priced at $300, are sourced from vintage stores across LA and hand-embellished by Khy to ensure no two are the same.
Of course, whenever a Kardashian-Jenner launches anything, the world has much to say. When Jenner launched Khy in late 2023, there was plenty of discussion online about the provenance and quality of the pieces. In its early days, nothing on Khy.com exceeded $200, but the pricing of the new collectsion will range from $70 to $470, as the brand elevates, Jenner says. “In terms of what we are dropping, I want it to feel more elevated — focusing on quality, focusing on producing more of our collectsion and less [SKUs],” she explains.
Jenner is, of course, a mother of two, with a very busy schedule of red carpets and appearances, alongside shooting The Kardashians and more recent acting roles. But she is keen to remain close to her businesses. “I’m super involved. [With Khy] I’m there every Wednesday, and then I never stop blowing their phones up, even on the weekend, they’re probably over me now,” she laughs. “I’ll start with an inspiration board, then it moves from inspiration to sketches. Then, I like to see a million samples.”
When she gets the samples, Jenner’s best friend, Anastasia Karanikolaou, is a key sounding board. “She knows me so well, we’ve known each other since we were 11, so she’ll come over and as a last check, I’ll make her try everything on — I love her attention to detail,” says Jenner. For this drop, Karanikolaou fed back that the denim didn’t quite sit at the right height on her back, which was then changed in production. Mid-development, Jenner also sent the summer collectsion to her best friends last winter, to make sure it will still feel fresh in the months to come. “I’m asking, ‘Are we wearing this next summer?’ And if they’re like ‘Honestly, no,’ then I’ll kill it.”
This iteration of Khy is all about taking on feedback. “I’m listening to my friends. I’m listening to everyone on my team, my customers,” she says. “I think we’re really trying to make people happy.”
Jenner has worked a lot on the fit of her pieces. With the collaboration model, some shoppers noted sizing inconsistencies, which is bound to occur when working with different designers. And while Khy is often spotted on Jenner and her friends, who have very specific body types, she wants to make sure it works for a broad consumer base looking ahead. “We are trying to consider what might work for me, might not work for the customer, too. So we’re trying [pieces] on all different types of bodies, all different types of people,” she says.
Catering to the masses in terms of fit is a lesson Jenner has likely taken from her sisters Kim and Khloé Kardashian, whose respective brands Skims and Good American lean into the importance of fit to help maintain appeal. Alongside Skims and Good American, Khy is one of several Kardashian-Jenner brands conceived in collaboration with British entrepreneurs Jens and Emma Grede; the brands in their wheelhouse are now worth billions.
The Grede’s were actively involved in the incubation of Khy, but transitioned full leadership control of the brand to Jenner a year after launch, according to the brand. Jenner controls the company, and the brand continues to grow under her creative direction and leadership. (Khy declined to share revenues and is yet to be valued publicly, but the brand made $1 million in the first hour after its launch in 2023.)
Jenner’s first venture, Kylie Cosmetics, launched in 2015, speaks to her personal brand power. She sold a 51% stake in the company to Coty in 2020 for $600 million, valuing the business at $1.2 billion, which reportedly minted Jenner as a billionaire, aged just 22. While she remains heavily involved in that business, as beauty’s boom era slowed, the brand’s parent company has faced some headwinds in recent years.
When asked what’s different about running a fashion label to a beauty brand, Jenner says: “I’ve learned a lot from Kylie Cosmetics that I’ve implemented here. Team-building, listening to your customer, attention to detail. It’s really similar actually.”
Building Khy with collaborations first has taught Jenner a lot about running a fashion business, before striking out and building collectsions with her new team. “Being able to go into these other designers’ worlds and learn has been amazing,” she says. “I learned the importance of listening to your community, never rushing a collectsion out, quality, paying attention to fabrics.” She took this mantra seriously during the refresh process, not hesitating to move things back if she felt like the refresh wasn’t quite ready.
Alongside its new drop, available to shop on April 28, Khy will have a fresh look on socials, a newly designed website, and a revamped logo, which is slightly more futuristic. “It’ll feel visually different. I am most excited about our approach with photography,” Jenner says. “It has a very cinematic feel, we’re using new photographers and new models.” She found the campaign’s photographer on a Kylie Cosmetics shoot a few years ago, and brought him onto the project, to give a fresh approach.
Jenner mentions the Khy store a few times throughout our conversation, and while it remains a North Star for building out the brand identity, there are no solid plans for now. “Definitely, in the near future I would love a store. I am looking forward to doing more events, creating more moments, and then a store,” Jenner explains. “That’s the next challenge after this.”
In five or 10 years from now, Jenner’s ambitions for Khy are pretty clear. “I would love to see more stores,” she says. “I’d love to see our world grow and thrive. I want my [customers] to be happy. I wanted timeless pieces that people can go back to. That’s the goal.”
Correction: This story was updated to reflect that Kylie Cosmetics parent company, Coty Inc, has faced headwinds in recent years. A previous version of the story stated the brand and its parent company faced headwinds but this has been simplified.
