How This Entrepreneur Turned Her Biggest Insecurity Into A Clothing Brand

Before Alice Kim left her corporate job to venture into the world of entrepreneurship, before she launched PerfectDD, her clothing brand that caters to women with large cup sizes and smaller to mid-size frames, before she learned to accept her body after years of loathing that had followed her from childhood well into adulthood, she was known as the “Asian girl with a fuller bust.” 

“Kids can be cruel, and that was [my identifier] before anyone even knew my name,” recalls Kim, who always felt like “the other” as the only Asian at her Catholic school. “I was ostracized for being different, and then it was even harder because I started to develop at a really young age. I thought something was wrong with me… it brought insecurities and shame.”

The daughter of Korean immigrants, Kim grew up in a traditionally conservative household in Queens, New York. Her mother upheld a modest outlook, which extended to how Kim dressed. It wasn’t just her mom. In high school, she remembers wearing a V-neck for her yearbook picture, only to discover that it was later retouched so that it looked like a full-coverage top.

Those feelings of shame followed her into post-grad life at a corporate job, where the expected dress was a button-down shirt and suit jacket. “I’m 115 pounds, a size zero or two, but what fit my frame would always pop open at my chest. If I sized up, I looked frumpy,” Kim tells Refinery29. “I would go to the bathroom, and [find that] the button across my chest had popped open. I was mortified.”

For Kim, fashion had always been her escape, nurtured through weekend shopping trips, and hours spent flipping through magazines. She soon pivoted to a career in fashion – starting from the bottom as an assistant buyer and working her way up – but still struggled to find clothes that fit her properly. She relied on tailoring, safety pins and double-stick tape.

“After so many years in fashion, I still thought something was wrong with my body,” she says. “Up until my early 30s, I wanted to get a breast reduction.”

But when Kim did more research and spoke to other women, she realized that the average bra size in the U.S. is a 34DD. She thought, Wait a minute, this is a huge market opportunity. This realization became the catalyst for PerfectDD. After working her way up to leadership roles like vice president and divisional merchandise manager, Kim started pitching her idea — only to be met with resistance. “People thought it was niche,” she says, recalling the frustrating feedback.

Approaching her 40th birthday, Kim knew that if she didn’t take the leap, then she never would. So, she quit her job, and four years later, in December 2020, she launched her brand. “I had a corporate job for 20 years; I didn’t have a founder community. This is my first start-up, and the challenges of navigating and doing everything as a solopreneur were overwhelming.” says Kim.

She shouts out the Chase® Ink Business Cash® Credit Card, which boasts robust small business programs that cater to self-starters, for providing her with invaluable resources to not only help her build a network, but also offer support. “[Chase Ink] grew with me as my business grew,” she reflects.

With a design approach that’s meticulous and innovative, PerfectDD isn’t just about making clothes — it’s about solving a problem that Kim had faced her entire life.

“What differentiates [PerfectDD from other brands is that] I create different patterns for every size,” says Kim. Instead of scaling up or down from a single pattern, she takes the average of real women’s sizes, including her own. This approach is unique and expensive, but necessary to create clothing that truly fits. “I’m willing to take the time and invest in that. Inches, centimeters, even millimeters matter.”

One of Kim’s biggest breakthroughs was securing two patents for her designs, including a hidden button technology that addresses the common problem of gaping in button-down shirts. It’s a big deal because around 10% of U.S. patent holders are women, and even fewer are women of color.

Kim believes PerfectDD is the most inclusive brand out there, because she takes size and shape into account. “We fit up to size 20, and our cup sizes for shirts fit up to an M cup,” says Kim, who likens her form-flattering tops to curvy jeans that are designed for women with fuller hips and thighs. “We shouldn’t have to change our bodies to fit into clothes that the mainstream media says our bodies should. Fashion brands need to do a better job of creating clothes that fit various shapes and sizes. I think I’m doing my part in filling those gaps.”

PerfectDD started with better-fitting T-shirts and sweatshirts made from high-quality Pima and Supima cotton, and the brand quickly gained traction, expanding into capsule wardrobe pieces. And customer reactions have been incredibly moving. “I had a customer who canceled her breast reduction surgery after finding my brand because she finally found clothes that fit; she bought eight more T-shirts and told me it was like finding her uniform,” Kim shares, her voice cracking slightly as she recalls the emotional moment. “[Another customer] said she felt worthy and seen and that she is enough. It keeps me going. I finally feel working hard pays off.”

And because she exclusively wears her own designs, she’s something like a walking advertisement for her brand, radiating the confidence she hopes all her customers feel. Her favorite piece? A corset bodysuit that can often be a challenging fit. “For women with a fuller bust, so many times the corset cup is way too small, but mine is full coverage. The last thing I want is to feel self-conscious,” says Kim, who wears hers with a blazer over it for dinner or a cocktail party.

As a self-funded small business owner, Kim is quite candid about the realities of entrepreneurial life. “I live and breathe work,” she says, gesturing around her small, 650-square-foot West Village apartment that doubles as her workspace. “I don’t just have one role in the company; I’m wearing so many different hats.”

And that’s why it’s so important for her to foster a community — support from other female entrepreneurs, and also family and friends. She honors them by naming each piece in her collection after a woman who has inspired her, like Charisse, a friend who volunteered her time to model for free during the pandemic; or Carol, her sister who’s also her therapist and best friend; or Rachel, who was her first patternmaker; or Katie, a loyal customer-turned-model.

She credits her Chase Ink Business Cash Credit Card, a dedicated business card that’s separate from her personal credit, for easing some of the financial burdens of entrepreneurship. A cash back card is beneficial, because it helps small business owners accumulate funds on what they’re already spending — Kim, for one, uses those benefits to book flights and buy tickets for her team, or to purchase essential business equipment, like her laptop and printers. In other words, she’s able to use those rewards and invest back into her business.

“It’s an added benefit, and I don’t have to stress [about] setting aside a budget because my spending automatically gives me this pool [of cash back] that I know is almost discretionary,” she says. “[Chase Ink] has amazing rewards and perks, so if I’m spending the money anyway, why not reap the benefits?”

As Kim looks to the future, she’s focused on expanding PerfectDD and partnering with other brands to bring her patented button-down technology to a wider audience. Kim sees it as a way to bring her innovation to the general public without disrupting anyone’s design — it’s just an added feature that improves the fit. And she hopes to one day lower prices to increase affordability without jeopardizing the quality — something that’s important to her, along with ensuring fair wages, insurance, and worker’s compensation for her factory employees.

“I want to reach as many women as possible; it’s a solution and an essential need. It’s not a nice-to-have. I want every woman, every person, to fall in love with their bodies,” she says. “For so much of my life, I wanted to fit in for multiple reasons: race, my body. I always felt different. So I think my story is interesting because it took this long, four-decade journey, but finally, I’m proud of who I am.”

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This article was originally published on refinery29.com.