Last week, just hours after the Palisades fire began its rampage through thousands of acres of densely populated Los Angeles, Kim Kardashian’s Skims company ran a series of social media posts about the company’s winter sales. Given that Kim and most of her family live in LA County and given that Skims is mostly an LA-based company, you would think that the social media people would be more engaged in what’s going on in their area. So, mistakes were made and the company looked tone-deaf, as did Kim (even though she probably wasn’t sending out those sales alerts). To make up for it, Skims announced that they are donating clothing, underwear and necessities to victims of the wildfires.
Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS clothing brand is donating clothing and other necessities to families affected by the Los Angeles wildfires that have destroyed large portions of the area this week.
“We have donated to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation providing critical resources to the heroic first responders protecting our city,” the reality star and businesswoman wrote on her Instagram Story Friday. “Additionally, we are making a sizable donation of underwear, clothing, and socks to Baby2Baby to help those displaced by the fires.”
Baby2Baby is a nonprofit organization that provides children in need with diapers, clothing and other basic necessities.
“As our community faces the devastation of the Los Angeles fires, our hearts are with all those impacted, and we are committed to helping during this challenging time,” Kardashian, 44, penned on another Story slide. She urged fans to donate to the cause as well.
“Together, we can bring hope and relief to those who need it most,” she noted.
Her announcement comes after she was slammed for being “tone-deaf” while promoting her SKIMS winter sale this week.
Kardashian and her family were not immediately in danger when the original Palisades Fire erupted on Tuesday, as they live in the Calabasas and Hidden Hills area of Los Angeles, which is northwest of the Palisades.
At first, I honestly thought Kim was being slammed for donating underwear, but no, it was all about the sales alerts. People will think the worst of Kim and her family, but those Skims donations will help. People have lost everything, and having clean underwear and a fresh pair of sweatpants will make someone feel a little bit better, you know? Also: according to TMZ, most of the Kardashian clan had to evacuate from Hidden Hills, the gated community where many of them have homes.
Photos courtesy of Kim’s IG.
Ok she made a very nice donation but I read an article that during the drought she and her sister over used water by hundreds of gallons a month to keep their areas green. Her sister complains now that the mayor and governor are somehow at fault. Yes people need clean clothes and underwear but I have little use for the Kardashians.
This. It would take me somewhere around 20 years to use up the amount of water she uses in a month. She’s part of the problem.
Not even just the grotesque amount of water, but with the *last* fire, she/her family was among the first to hire PRIVATE firefighters (usually going for $2000/per *HOUR*) for their homes, using (of course!) PUBLIC water to save their homes. These people are beyond despicable and selfish.
Susan, small correction:
it was hundreds of thousands of gallons that Kim and Khloe used last July, when they were found out — more than 330.000 gallons than their water allowance, by having the water meters manipulated.
And that’s just two people.
Now think of all the reporting that came out last year, and the many people that went undetected.
Yes you are correct hundreds of thousands and that is even worse. Khloe now has the f**king nerve now to complain.
Disasters bring out the best and worst in people. As someone who has had to evacuate more than once — with one being major man-made disaster (Hurricane Katrina), any donation is needed and wanted. Am I fan of the Kardashians? No. Would I take a donation from them? Yes. (And after a disaster, NEW underwear is actually a big deal as some people who donate clothing think their old underwear is valid to donate.)
Or should I ask @SusanCollins or any of those above commenting about the water — to a person who is trying to survive the diaster, conflating their water usage from a year ago to now is useless and virtue signaling — what have you done for the fire victims?
Here’s a handy link:
https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/how-to-help-la-fire-victims
Leonsmomma. I said that was a nice donation and that people needed those things but my main point was they overused the water to keep things green and now complain. Not that it’s any of your business but I do donate to the Red Cross. I live in NC and have donated clothing and food staples to help those people who have lost everything. Again my point of my first comment was people who live in glass houses shouldn’t over use water for lawns then complain when there isn’t enough for the fires.
Ok, I stand corrected you said it was a nice donation. And thanks for your donations to the NC folks (many of whom this is another go-around, as they fled New Orleans thinking it was safer in the hills of NC.)
Even after 20 years of Katrina, I am still angry about what happened — LA residents are in for a long haul — and what we didn’t have to deal with after Katrina was the messiness of social media and all the conspiracy theories, etc. that adds to the stress.
Yes there is lots of misinformation on social media I agree. This is a disaster of epic proportions for so very many people and it will take many many years to come back from this. Blaming the mayors and governor are absolutely not needed or wanted right now. Help is what is needed.
I live in California and have done my entire life. Yes it’s great she donated underwear. But that doesn’t give her and her sister a pass for using MORE WATER IN A MONTH THAN MOST PEOPLE CAN USE IN DECADES DURING DROUGHT CONDITIONS. Because they’re entitled assholes who wanted to keep their massive estates green instead of doing what the rest of us had to. The rest of us are only allowed to water twice a week. We have dangerous dry grass and can’t afford to hire landscapers to redo our yards with plants that tolerate heat and drought. All they get are fines that are chump change to them while areas mostly populated with people without anywhere near their money suffer the most.
It’s not just them. It’s also Nestlé. It’s also PG&E. It’s also the golf courses. It’s also other people who are filthy rich and do the same thing but aren’t getting reported.
But shrugging off the way she and others like her are actively contributing to the problem that leads to these dry conditions because they donate some clothing is bullshit.
I am not shrugging it off. But these are two very separate — though very interlocked issues.
Right now those who lost everything — possessions, possibly family, friends and pets, their homes and their jobs — they are numb and trying to figure out the next step. Your life as you know it has been wiped out in 24-48 hours. It’s not easy. They aren’t thinking about how the Kardashians and other rich folks overuse water in California. They are thinking where do I live? how can I afford to live? Many had their net worth tide up in their homes.
Yes, it is horrible the Kardashians recklessly used water in that way to cause issues but reading legit journalism shows the water issues in California is a complicated issue (not helped, obviously about people taking advantage of using water.)
So yeah, donating is great fr, good for her. I’m not knocking that. But I don’t think it’s virtue signaling to call out people who have abused and paid fines for past overuses of water, which is also her. And it’s a very good point that it’s not just the kardashians. There are a lot of people and corporations just as guilty as them if not more so. So yeah it shouldn’t just be about them doing it. It should absolutely be about them doing it but also along with everyone else who does that. Otherwise it’s just hitting out at them to conveniently distract from alllllll the others who are just as guilty.
Just an observation from an outsider, but when I visited my sister in Oceanside (way South of LA, I think 6 hours, but same drought and water issues), I noticed a difference from year to year. First year, everything was green, looked great, noticed a fancy subdivision I drove past with nice landscaping, golf course and cross walks. Next year, everything was so brown and dusty. All the plants and trees were dead, it as so sad to see, but it’s good they were conserving water, until I went by the upscale place with the green golf course and green grass, bushes and still alive palm trees. It was like a different world. I couldn’t believe it! So, yeah, water usage is unequal all over CA. It’s awful.
Donations are a tricky thing. I donate, and donate regularly. But there is zero reason why the government and insurance should not be taking care of people in situations like this. It’s tricky, but I don’t love that people who don’t have much are often the ones to help in these situations. And if you are donating, please be careful about donating to established groups with very low adminstrative costs. (The Kardashians are well known to have charity sales that go to them.)
Providing donations from her warehouse which she can use as a tax write off later on doesn’t undo the fact that she and her family use up more water than the non rich people and that missing water is unavailable to help put out the fire.
Rich elites are accelerating the harm to the earth because their consumption exceeds the use by the average person exponentially.
And she only did this after the sales alerts were sent. This is bare minimum.
This. She and Khloe are terrible people.
All of this. It’s the barest minimum she could do.
I understand now that I read the post, but the headline made it sound like Skims products were being donated. Probably nothing people want to wear less after escaping a wildfire than those dreadful girdle panties.
She is donating Skims products. Skims makes a lot more items than just shapeware – hoodies, pajamas, regular underwear, even nursing bras.
I kind of feel like an equivalent money wise donation of Haines would reach a lot more people with much more go around, but anything that’s donated is good.
And she gets a tax write off for this too.
Every little bit helps.
Is she cosplaying Beyoncé? Girl, no.
THIS — donating some underwear doesn’t give a pass for straight up cosplaying Cowboy Carter.
Came here to say the same thing! If I saw those pictures w/o an ID, would have been certain it was Bey. Gross.
I thought JLo, given the hair & skin color.
Underwear is something I think people forget needs to be donated. Also really important but forgotten- menstrual supplies. Consider donating those to our sisters in SoCal.
I saw a bit of news from local reporters last night. Looks like a lot of shelter & donation centers have a lot of stuff but would prefer, now, simply money. That way they can buy when is specifically needed at their locality.
Remember if a company donates inventory it gets to deduct the Fair Market Value of the inventory not just what they paid for it. So for example if they paid $5 to make a pair of pajamas that sells for $100 they get to deduct the whole $100. So by donating inventory that isn’t selling they get rid of it and get a huge donation resulting in effect the taxpayers picking up the bill. Sure they know this. So nice of them to donate.
People donating their worthless used clothing can get a tax deduction, too. And the tax effect of donations wouldn’t be as much as if the government had to buy all those clothes on its own – never mind the employee time, paperwork and delays in purchasing and delivering. In any case, I don’t think people with no clothes on their backs will be wondering about tax deductions.
Inventory book value (ie ‘tax basis’) does not equal unbooked Sales, or as you refer to it “Fair Market Value.” In some cases, ‘C’ corps can deduct charitable contributions of inventory above its carrying cost (IRC Sec. 170(e)(3)). Doubt it applies here.
. Considering how much that family is worth – more could be done of course. But at least is is something useful.
Skims is mostly underwear, right? That will fill an important gap in donations. While there’s more than enough secondhand clothing in the world to clothe people after multiple disasters, organizations can’t do the same with underwear for hygiene reasons. So dead stock from Skims should be welcome.
I noticed all those mansions that burned had green lawns/giant pools. Kimmy needs to fire her photoshop person cause 😬.
When you think about it, this is the bare minimum that someone as rich as Kim Kardashian could do. Not to mention, if people didn’t call her/SKIMS out all of those unsold clothes would still be sitting in a warehouse somewhere. However, it’s still nice to know that people are getting some free clothes to wear.
The KarJenners were silent during the elections (other than Kim posting a gushing happy birthday message to her bestie, Ivanka Trump, right before Election Day) but now Khloe is on social media loudly criticizing Karen Bass and Gavin Newsome? I feel so badly for everyone impacted by the fires but that family is the absolute worst…