Y’all know I am not the biggest Kardashian-Jenner fan. In fact, I’m not really a fan at all. But despite their problematic nature, I was intrigued to hear that Kim Kardashian was coming out with a shapewear line. This is a woman who has leaned on shapewear for YEARS to build her shape, and has literally shown us that she will do what needs to be done for that one perfect look on the red carpet.
Well, when she initially launched her shapewear line, she had dubbed it to be called “Kimono Solutionwear”, undoubtedly a play on her name.
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The line comes from XXS-4XL, with nine shades total included in the collection. “I would always cut up my shapewear to make my own styles,” Kim wrote on Instagram about her launch. “There have also been so many times I couldn’t find a shapewear color that blended with my skin tone, so we needed a solution for all of this.”
Despite what many thought would be a warm welcome, people said that the brand’s name was appropriative, and that she needed to dismiss the trademark that was allegedly pending for the word “kimono.” Many couldn’t understand how she would try to trademark a garment of an entirely different culture, a kimono that is traditionally worn in Japanese communities. Oh yeah, they’re not shapewear either.
Daisaku Kadokawa, the mayor of Kyoto, Japan, even wore Kardashian West a letter, asking her to reconsider the trademark. “Kimono is a traditional ethnic dress fostered in our rich nature and history with our predecessors’ tireless endeavours and studies, and it is a culture that has been cherished and passed down with care in our living,” Kadokawa wrote.
However, Business Insider said that it wasn’t the word she was trying to have trademarked, but rather a specific font version of the word.
“The mark consists of the word ‘KIMONO’ in a stylized font,” says Business Insider. Trademark applications were also submitted for the phrases “Kimono Body” and “Kimono World.”
Since the backlash, Kim has said that she will amend the name of her collection. “I am always listening, learning and growing – I so appreciate the passion and varied perspectives that people bring to me,” Kardashian West wrote on Twitter. “When I announced the name of my shapewear line, I did so with the best intentions in mind.”
While I am happy that Kim stepped up and took ownership of the blunder, I do wonder why this same energy isn’t always kept when it’s an issue of Black culture. But let me just step on back over here for the time being.
