Finding a good-fitting pair of jeans is a universal struggle. And when you're a woman with curves? It's a nearly impossible feat. Tired of dealing with this always-prevalent fashion issue, Khloé Kardashian and Emma Grede decided to join forces on a new line of jeans, Good American, in hopes of starting a body-positive denim revolution.
Ranging in size from 0 to 24, the new line hopes to empower and include women of all sizes and shapes. Featuring a contour waistband and curved stitching to accentuate your figure, Good American is aiming to offer up more flattering fits in the denim world. And who better to vouch for embracing curves than Khloé Kardashian herself?
Ahead of the brand's launch today, BAZAAR.com sat down with co-founders Khloé Kardashian and Emma Grede to learn more about the jeans.
Harper's BAZAAR: What inspired the two of you to start a line of jeans?
Khloé Kardashian: Emma and I created Good American because we wanted jeans that can fit real women—and we really feel like this has been lacking in the market. Our denim line will go from size 0 to size 24, but we don't consider this a plus-sized line—we consider this a line for the everyday woman. We believe in embracing a woman's curves and I feel like now so many people are breaking down these barriers of not only going to a size 6 or 8, which is considered "normal." I'm very proud of the message Emma and I are trying to get out into the world and we really hope that it transcends into making women feel empowered in their own skin and knowing that there's a line that's going to give you all these trends, you can still be fashion-forward and have everything that the "normal" girls have—and I hate to say that—without having to sacrifice anything else.
HB: You decided to cast real women and fans in your campaign instead of models, can you tell me about that?
Emma Grede: We shot the campaign a few months ago and Khloé put out a message on social media to say that she was launching the brand. We really just wanted women from all backgrounds to come and be part of the campaign. We had about 12,000 entries in 24 hours and we invited 250 people to come down to audition for the campaign—it was amazing. It was one of the most empowering, brilliant days because we had all of these girls that had no idea what they were doing; they saw a manifesto on our website talking about our values and what we wanted this company to be and they responded to that and turned up in droves–it was really exciting. We've got this incredible campaign with all these different women from different backgrounds, shapes, sizes, colors; it was really empowering to do that right at the start of this brand.
KK: What I took away from that the most is that normally when you're on auditions people are like, "I'm not talking to you, I want this role," but everyone who came into the room was like, "I just made some new friends out there!" They didn't even know why they were there, they just knew there was a positive message and they wanted to be part of it. To see people that excited about doing something that's uplifting, that's something that really opened our eyes and made us think, 'wow there really is a huge lack of this positivity in life and building other women up in this field and it's horrible.' But also great for us because it made us feel like we're on to something great. But now even after the fact, we will like cyber-stalk some of these girls and they're still friends—it's such a great thing.
HB: So how did the two of you start working together?
EG: I've known Kris [Jenner] for the last 3 years and previously, I worked in entertainment marketing so I've worked with the family in the past and I called Kris and said "I have this idea, I'd love to work with Khloé, she's known as someone who is always in denim and looks fantastic" and I also thought the ethos of our brand is about embracing what you've got. Right from the beginning, I thought Khloé had been a part of what the body revolution is, what the idea of the new sexy is, and so it made sense that she should be involved in something like this.
HB: For a lot of women, it's so hard to find a pair of jeans that fits the right way. How did you take that problem into account when it came to designing Good American?
EG: Well, that's the whole thing, that's what everybody talks about and it's not easy, that's why not a lot of brands are able to do it. We've spent a really, really long time developing a product that we can be proud of. There are a lot of technical elements that go into it, what we've worked really hard on is this contour waistband which acts like a self-belt and it means that you never have that gap at the back if you have a smaller waist and a bigger backside. You sometimes need to make alterations and you'll never need to do that in these jeans. The fabric is super stretchy, has great recovery, the pattern is completely different so that all the curve is in the hip. We've got some very special stitching on our jeans so even though they're very plain and there's no jazz on the jeans, the stitching is curved and it actually follows and accentuates a woman's figure. There's a lot of tricks going into these jeans.
HB: Khloé, you in particular, are really good at styling jeans, do you have any tips for people who are a little bit curvier and sometimes don't know how to wear them?
KK: Well I feel like my go-to silhouette is always a skinny jean and a bodysuit. I love the tailored look, I know people do a t-shirt and jeans do all the time. But for me, since I am curvier I like to accentuate the smaller part of my waist–that's why I love our high-rise denim and our contour belt does suck you in a little. So with a bodysuit, you just look really sleek and also it shows off the curves—I love a woman's curves. That's my go-to because it looks really great on my frame, but you could wear jeans with whatever, I wear them with flip flops, heels, boots—the bottom part you can do anything and the upper part I just like to keep it clean. Less is more with denim, I think that denim is a sexy piece. If I would invest in anything in my closet it would be denim because you can wear it day to night and now it's even acceptable to wear to a business meeting.
HB: Who would be your dream client for Good American?
EG: I always say the same thing, I'm obsessed with Rihanna. I wouldn't mind that Kim Kardashian girl, either.
KK: Right? My sisters will never wear something just because it's ours, we'll only wear something if we like it and I'm excited to send them the jeans. I would never force them to wear something, but I have a feeling they are going to love the denim, so I'm excited to see them wearing it. But, I also know that if they don't want to, then they won't wear it. Rihanna would be totally dope, I think even a Rosie Huntington...she is just like, denim heaven. There's a ton of girls–the Gigi Hadid's of the world–honestly, I'm so excited I would love to see anyone in them. I would love Ashley Graham to get in the denim–beautiful women with beautiful figures.
Good American jeans range in price from $149 - $215 and are available now on goodamerican.com and nordstrom.com.
