Kylie Jenner

The Server Meltdown in 2015

November 2015. Kylie Jenner launches her first three lip kits and the website crashes in less than sixty seconds. Nobody in the makeup industry expected an eighteen-year-old to bring digital traffic to a halt like that. That day gave birth to something more than a cosmetics brand.

She grew up surrounded by cameras from age 2007 thanks to the show Keeping Up with the Kardashians. For her, the camera was never an intruder but a constant tool of the trade. She learned early that other people's attention is a very valuable currency if you know how to manage it.

And the gamble paid off.

In 2014, she decided to change her physical appearance, and the debate about her lips flooded internet forums. Instead of hiding, she used the noise to create Kylie Cosmetics. She invested 250,000 dollars of her personal savings, earned from modeling jobs, to produce the first 15,000 units of her signature product.

The 600 Million Deal

The company grew so quickly that multinational corporations soon came knocking. In 2019, Coty bought 51 percent of her company. The deal was valued at 600 million dollars and raised her status from celebrity to high-level corporate executive.

But the road had some major setbacks. In 2020, Forbes removed her billionaire title after an audit of the real figures of her business. That episode was a reality check for her public image (although her bank accounts barely felt the media impact).

Because the market doesn't forgive miscalculations.

Despite the criticism, she kept her pace of launches. In 2021, she expanded her catalog into baby products and sunscreens. She wasn't just looking to sell makeup but to take over every shelf in her followers' bathrooms through a constant strategy of visual saturation on social media.

New Horizons in 2023

Her entry into the high fashion world came for good in 2023. She launched Khy, her own clothing line, aiming to offer minimalist designs at competitive prices. The first collection brought in one million dollars within the first hour of commercial sales.

That same year her public image shifted when she was linked romantically to actor Timothée Chalamet. She was seen at the 2024 Golden Globes and at Paris fashion shows with a much more restrained style. Less artifice and more focus on the traditional luxury industry.

Kylie Jenner is no longer just the younger sister of a famous family.

In 2024, she decided to try her luck in the beverage industry with the launch of Sprinter. The initial distribution deal for this alcoholic soda included its presence in more than 4,500 retail locations across the United States.