Emma Grede is not losing sleep over the Skims Advent calendar backlash. The Skims founding partner was caught by TMZ in New York on Monday and asked about the controversy surrounding the brand’s $148 holiday calendar, and she came across completely unbothered, brushing off the people talking trash.
Her reaction landed just one day after Skims issued an apology and started offering refunds to customers who bought the calendar.
The problem was what was behind the little doors. Shoppers who paid $148 opened them up to find bobby pins, headbands, hair ties, keychains, a squishy toy and a compact mirror. TikTok creators led the charge, posting unboxing videos that racked up millions of views. Some said they could find the same items at Dollar Tree. Others started calling the brand “Scams.” One viral post compared the contents to what you would find behind your bed if you pulled the headboard away from the wall.
For a brand known for shapewear, loungewear and sleepwear, customers expected something closer to the products that made Skims famous, not a bag of hair accessories in a festive box.
Skims responded by admitting it heard the complaints and understood the Skims Advent calendar did not meet expectations, then offered full refunds. Kim Kardashian has not publicly addressed the backlash.
So when Emma shrugged it off on camera, plenty of people felt the company’s apology and its cofounder’s attitude were not on the same page.
For anyone who knows Kim but not Emma, here is who she is. Emma Grede is a British businesswoman who cofounded Skims in 2019 alongside Kim Kardashian and her husband, Swedish businessman Jens Grede. She is also the cofounder and CEO of Good American, the denim and apparel brand she launched with Khloé Kardashian. Skims has grown into a $5 billion company after raising $225 million to expand globally and open more stores, and Emma’s own net worth is estimated at around $400 million. She also hosts the podcast Aspire, and this spring she went on tour for her book, Start With Yourself.
Made to order and shipped to your door.
That book tour is where a lot of her recent backlash started.
During the tour, Emma said she is a “max three hour mum” on weekends, meaning she spends a few hours with her children and focuses on her own activities the rest of the time. The comment went viral, and many Black women in particular called it out for ignoring the realities of mothers who do not have the money, staff or support she has. Emma did not walk it back. She went on the Today show and defended it, saying women are held to an impossible standard as both parents and businesswomen.
She also called working from home a career killer for women during an appearance on Keke Palmer’s podcast, Baby, This Is Keke Palmer. Instead of softening the take, she doubled down in a later interview with Bloomberg’s Francine Lacqua and called full time remote work career suicide. Plenty of working women, including moms who rely on remote jobs to make the math work, did not appreciate being told their setup was sinking their careers.
Before that, in 2025, she told Steven Bartlett on The Diary of a CEO that work life balance is something employees have to figure out on their own, not the employer’s responsibility. That one stung for a company that sells primarily to women, who still carry most of the load at home.
Then came the Ami Colé situation. Emma revealed she passed on investing in the Black owned beauty brand because she did not think it was extraordinary enough. After Ami Colé closed, Skims hired its founder, Diarrha N’Diaye, as executive vice president of beauty and fragrance. Essence wrote that the “sorry, not sorry” framing felt dismissive, especially since Emma has built so much of her cultural capital within Black consumer spaces.
Even reality TV has not been safe. As a guest judge on the British show Dragons’ Den, Emma tore into a young entrepreneur’s pitch so harshly that viewers called it belittling, and fellow judge Steven Bartlett described her comments as savage.
When Fortune asked her about the noise around her book tour, Emma said she would be more worried if nobody was talking. She has also argued that a male entrepreneur like Mark Cuban would never go viral for talking about the sacrifices it takes to succeed.
Emma has made it clear the criticism does not move her. Customers who spent $148 on hair ties have made it just as clear that they expected more, and at least the refund is on the table.
