Meet Emma Grede, the exec behind Kardashian apparel brands Good American and Skims

– Keeping up. Last week’s episode of The Kardashians featured a new face: Emma Grede. The longtime executive behind some of the reality TV star family’s biggest brands made her onscreen debut on the Hulu show, helping Khloé Kardashian choose models to appear in an ad campaign for her clothing brand Good American.

Grede has served as CEO of Good American since 2016 and later added the role of chief product officer for Kim Kardashian’s apparel and shapewear brand Skims ahead of its 2019 debut. Over the past six years, she’s built Good American into a $130 million business on track to exceed $200 million in revenue in 2022. Originally launched as a denim brand, Good American now sells a range of apparel and has pioneered size inclusivity; the brand was the first to feature multiple models of varying body types wearing its garments on its site. At Good American, Grede oversees a team of about 100 people, while at Skims, she’s purely focused on the brand’s products. (Skims is reportedly on track to bring in about $400 million in sales this year.)

With a background in talent marketing, she was aptly prepared to work alongside cofounders who happen to be among the most famous and influential women in the world. But Good American and Skims shouldn’t be considered celebrity brands, argues Grede, who was raised in the U.K. and moved with her husband and four children from London to Los Angeles for her current positions. “I don’t think Skims and Good American at the scale we are today can be considered celebrity brands. A lot of celebrity brands fail,” says the CEO. “Our focus is on providing best-in-class product. It’s brand above all else. It’s product over everything else.”

Courtesy of Good American

What’s particularly telling, Grede says, is that both brands can survive without their respective celebrity backing. While customers may check out a brand that’s tied to a famous face, they won’t return if the product doesn’t meet their standards, she says. This year, the Kardashian brands are playing an ever-growing role in the family’s on-screen narrative. The Hulu incarnation of the show, which debuted in April after the 2021 end of the E! network series Keeping Up With the Kardashians, has so far featured Grede’s work at Good American, a Skims photoshoot, and the offices at Kylie Cosmetics. (Grede is also the cofounder of a third Kardashian brand, Kris Jenner’s cleaning products business Safely.) Last week’s episode even divulged some business stats, with an offhand mention from Grede that Good American had sold 37,000 units of a pair of shorts. “The reason you’re seeing the brands take a front-row seat in that way is because the girls are at the stage of their life where their brands are what they do every day,” says Grede. “Their businesses are just so intertwined in their everyday lives.”

As for Grede’s everyday life, she often works on both Good American and Skims on the same day but schedules her time by themes, such as product or marketing. The companies share a campus, making it easy for Grede to dash between offices, but she says there’s no overarching strategy between the businesses. “It’s every brand for itself.”

If three jobs weren’t enough, Grede also serves as chairwoman for the Fifteen Percent Pledge, a campaign launched by designer Aurora James that pushes retailers to devote 15% of their shelf space to Black-owned brands. Grede reached out to James to help with the nonprofit work, offering her connections in the retail industry. “I can get pretty much any retail CEO on the phone,” Grede says. “They will take my call and they will take it seriously.” So far, 28 retailers have committed to the pledge. “It’s not just a nice-to-do,” says Grede. “It’s actually a contractual commitment.”

Grede has big goals and high standards for the brands under her remit. Good American will only sell its products through retailers that commit to offering the full size range of 00 to 32, which included a recent fast-fashion partnership with Zara. She’s also ensuring that the brands don’t waver due to changing, fleeting trends. The skinny jean is not dead, she insists: “It’s a fit that works for so many women’s bodies.”

Running a celebrity-founded business isn’t so different from how most modern brands interact with talent in marketing and on social media. “Our brands really operate in popular culture. There is an intersection with entertainment in so many different ways, not just with the owners of those businesses being Kim and Khloé,” Grede says. “If you’re in the zeitgeist in a brand that’s operating now, entertainment and culture are so much intertwined—you need to have an understanding of how that relates to your brand.”

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe

The Broadsheet is Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Today’s edition was curated by Paige McGlauflin. Subscribe here.

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