Earlier than Alice Kim left her company job to enterprise into the world of entrepreneurship, earlier than she launched PerfectDD, her clothes model that caters to girls with giant cup sizes and smaller to mid-size frames, earlier than she realized to simply accept her physique after years of loathing that had adopted her from childhood properly into maturity, she was generally known as the “Asian lady with a fuller bust.”
“Children will be merciless, and that was [my identifier] earlier than anybody even knew my identify,” remembers Kim, who all the time felt like “the opposite” as the one Asian at her Catholic faculty. “I used to be ostracized for being completely different, after which it was even more durable as a result of I began to develop at a extremely younger age. I assumed one thing was mistaken with me… it introduced insecurities and disgrace.”
The daughter of Korean immigrants, Kim grew up in a historically conservative family in Queens, New York. Her mom upheld a modest outlook, which prolonged to how Kim dressed. It wasn’t simply her mother. In highschool, she remembers carrying a V-neck for her yearbook image, solely to find that it was later retouched in order that it regarded like a full-coverage prime.
These emotions of disgrace adopted her into post-grad life at a company job, the place the anticipated gown was a button-down shirt and swimsuit jacket. “I’m 115 kilos, a measurement zero or two, however what match my body would all the time pop open at my chest. If I sized up, I regarded frumpy,” Kim tells Refinery29. “I might go to the lavatory, and [find that] the button throughout my chest had popped open. I used to be mortified.”
I assumed one thing was mistaken with me, and I needed to change my physique. That introduced insecurities and disgrace.
For Kim, vogue had all the time been her escape, nurtured via weekend purchasing journeys, and hours spent flipping via magazines. She quickly pivoted to a profession in vogue – ranging from the underside as an assistant purchaser and dealing her method up – however nonetheless struggled to search out garments that match her correctly. She relied on tailoring, security pins and double-stick tape.
“After so a few years in vogue, I nonetheless thought one thing was mistaken with my physique,” she says. “Up till my early 30s, I needed to get a breast discount.”
However when Kim did extra analysis and spoke to different girls, she realized that the typical bra measurement within the U.S. is a 34DD. She thought, Wait a minute, this can be a big market alternative. This realization grew to become the catalyst for PerfectDD. After working her method as much as management roles like vp and divisional merchandise supervisor, Kim began pitching her thought — solely to be met with resistance. “Individuals thought it was area of interest,” she says, recalling the irritating suggestions.
Approaching her fortieth birthday, Kim knew that if she didn’t take the leap, then she by no means would. So, she give up her job, and 4 years later, in December 2020, she launched her model. “I had a company job for 20 years; I didn’t have a founder neighborhood. That is my first start-up, and the challenges of navigating and doing the whole lot as a solopreneur had been overwhelming.” says Kim.
She shouts out the Chase® Ink Enterprise Money® Credit score Card, which boasts sturdy small enterprise applications that cater to self-starters, for offering her with invaluable assets to not solely assist her construct a community, but additionally provide assist. “[Chase Ink] grew with me as my enterprise grew,” she displays.
With a design strategy that’s meticulous and modern, PerfectDD isn’t nearly making garments — it’s about fixing an issue that Kim had confronted her complete life.
“What differentiates [PerfectDD from other brands is that] I create completely different patterns for each measurement,” says Kim. As a substitute of scaling up or down from a single sample, she takes the typical of actual girls’s sizes, together with her personal. This strategy is exclusive and costly, however essential to create clothes that actually matches. “I’m keen to take the time and put money into that. Inches, centimeters, even millimeters matter.”
One in all Kim’s greatest breakthroughs was securing two patents for her designs, together with a hidden button expertise that addresses the frequent drawback of gaping in button-down shirts. It’s an enormous deal as a result of round 10% of U.S. patent holders are girls, and even fewer are girls of coloration.
Kim believes PerfectDD is essentially the most inclusive model on the market, as a result of she takes measurement and form under consideration. “We match as much as measurement 20, and our cup sizes for shirts match as much as an M cup,” says Kim, who likens her form-flattering tops to curvy denims which might be designed for ladies with fuller hips and thighs. “We shouldn’t have to vary our our bodies to suit into garments that the mainstream media says our our bodies ought to. Style manufacturers have to do a greater job of making garments that match varied sizes and styles. I feel I’m doing my half in filling these gaps.”
PerfectDD began with better-fitting T-shirts and sweatshirts comprised of high-quality Pima and Supima cotton, and the model shortly gained traction, increasing into capsule wardrobe items. And buyer reactions have been extremely transferring. “I had a buyer who canceled her breast discount surgical procedure after discovering my model as a result of she lastly discovered garments that match; she purchased eight extra T-shirts and advised me it was like discovering her uniform,” Kim shares, her voice cracking barely as she remembers the emotional second. “[Another customer] stated she felt worthy and seen and that she is sufficient. It retains me going. I lastly really feel working onerous pays off.”
And since she completely wears her personal designs, she’s one thing like a strolling commercial for her model, radiating the boldness she hopes all her clients really feel. Her favourite piece? A corset bodysuit that may usually be a difficult match. “For ladies with a fuller bust, so many occasions the corset cup is method too small, however mine is full protection. The very last thing I need is to really feel self-conscious,” says Kim, who wears hers with a blazer over it for dinner or a cocktail get together.
We shouldn’t have to vary our our bodies to suit into garments that the mainstream media says our our bodies ought to. Style manufacturers have to do a greater job of making garments that match varied sizes and styles.
As a self-funded small enterprise proprietor, Kim is sort of candid concerning the realities of entrepreneurial life. “I stay and breathe work,” she says, gesturing round her small, 650-square-foot West Village condominium that doubles as her workspace. “I don’t simply have one position within the firm; I’m carrying so many various hats.”
And that’s why it’s so vital for her to foster a neighborhood — assist from different feminine entrepreneurs, and likewise household and pals. She honors them by naming every bit in her assortment after a lady who has impressed her, like Charisse, a good friend who volunteered her time to mannequin totally free in the course of the pandemic; or Carol, her sister who’s additionally her therapist and greatest good friend; or Rachel, who was her first patternmaker; or Katie, a loyal customer-turned-model.
She credit her Chase Ink Enterprise Money Credit score Card, a devoted enterprise card that’s separate from her private credit score, for alleviating among the monetary burdens of entrepreneurship. A money again card is useful, as a result of it helps small enterprise homeowners accumulate funds on what they’re already spending — Kim, for one, makes use of these advantages to guide flights and purchase tickets for her crew, or to buy important enterprise gear, like her laptop computer and printers. In different phrases, she’s ready to make use of these rewards and make investments again into her enterprise.
“It’s an additional benefit, and I don’t should stress [about] setting apart a price range as a result of my spending robotically offers me this pool [of cash back] that I do know is nearly discretionary,” she says. “[Chase Ink] has superb rewards and perks, so if I’m spending the cash anyway, why not reap the advantages?”
As Kim seems to be to the long run, she’s centered on increasing PerfectDD and partnering with different manufacturers to deliver her patented button-down expertise to a wider viewers. Kim sees it as a method to deliver her innovation to most of the people with out disrupting anybody’s design — it’s simply an added characteristic that improves the match. And she or he hopes to in the future decrease costs to extend affordability with out jeopardizing the standard — one thing that’s vital to her, together with making certain truthful wages, insurance coverage, and employee’s compensation for her manufacturing unit staff.
“I need to attain as many ladies as attainable; it’s an answer and an important want. It’s not a nice-to-have. I need each lady, each particular person, to fall in love with their our bodies,” she says. “For a lot of my life, I needed to slot in for a number of causes: race, my physique. I all the time felt completely different. So I feel my story is fascinating as a result of it took this lengthy, four-decade journey, however lastly, I’m pleased with who I’m.”
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