Before Alice Kim left her corporate job to venture into the world of entrepreneurship, before she founded PerfectDD, her clothing brand aimed at women with large cup sizes and smaller to medium body sizes, before she learned to embrace her body after years of dislike accepting that followed her from childhood into adulthood, she was known as the “fuller busted Asian girl.”
“Children can be cruel and that’s it [my identifier] before anyone knew my name,” remembers Kim, who, as the only Asian at her Catholic school, always felt like “the other.” “I was ostracized because I was different, and then it was even harder because I started developing at a very young age. I thought there was something wrong with me… it brought insecurity and shame.”
The daughter of Korean immigrants, Kim grew up in a traditionally conservative household in Queens, New York. Her mother had a modest attitude, which also influenced the way Kim dressed. It wasn’t just her mother. She remembers wearing a V-neck top in high school for her yearbook picture, only to find that it was later retouched to look like a full-coverage top.
These feelings of shame followed her into post-grad life at a company where the expected dress was a button-down shirt and a suit jacket. “I weigh 115 pounds, wear a size 0 or 2, but what fits my shape always bounces around my chest. If I went up a size, I looked frumpy,” Kim tells Refinery29. “I would go to the toilet and [find that] The button over my chest had popped open. I was ashamed.”
I thought there was something wrong with me and I needed to change my body. This brought with it insecurity and shame.
For Kim, fashion had always been her refuge, nurtured by weekend shopping trips and hours spent flipping through magazines. She soon turned to a career in fashion – starting at the bottom as a shopping assistant and working her way up – but still had difficulty finding clothes that fit her properly. She relied on tailoring, safety pins and double-stick tape.
“After so many years in the fashion industry, I still thought there was something wrong with my body,” she says. “I wanted to have a breast reduction by my early 30s.”
But when Kim did more research and talked to other women, she discovered that the average bra size in the US is 34DD. She thought, wait a minute, this is a huge market opportunity. This realization became the trigger for PerfectDD. After working her way up to leadership positions such as vice president and divisional merchandise manager, Kim began pitching her idea – but was met with resistance. “People thought it was niche,” she recalls of the frustrating feedback.
As her 40th birthday approached, Kim knew that if she didn’t take the step, she never would. So she quit her job and launched her brand four years later, in December 2020. “I had a corporate job for 20 years; I didn’t have a startup community. This is my first start-up and the challenges of navigating and getting everything done as a solopreneur have been overwhelming,” says Kim.
She praises the Chase® Ink Business Cash® Credit Card, which offers robust small business programs aimed at self-starters, for providing her with invaluable resources that not only help her build a network but also provide support. “[Chase Ink] “I grew as my business grew,” she remembers.
With a careful and innovative approach to design, PerfectDD isn’t just about making clothes – it’s about solving a problem Kim has faced her entire life.
“What makes the difference [PerfectDD from other brands is that] I create different patterns for each size,” says Kim. Instead of scaling up or down a single pattern, she takes the average of actual women’s sizes, including her own. This approach is unique and expensive, but necessary to make clothing that really fits. “I’m willing to take the time and invest in it. Inches, centimeters, even millimeters matter.”
One of Kim’s biggest breakthroughs was securing two patents for her designs, including a hidden button technology that solves the common gaping hole problem in button-down shirts. This is a big deal because about 10% of patent holders in the US are women and even fewer are women of color.
Kim believes PerfectDD is the most comprehensive brand on the market because it takes size and shape into consideration. “We fit up to a size 20 and our shirt cup sizes fit up to a medium cup,” says Kim, who compares her figure-flattering tops to curvy jeans designed for women with fuller hips and thighs. “We shouldn’t have to change our bodies to fit into the clothes the mainstream media says our bodies should. Fashion brands need to do a better job of creating clothing that fits different shapes and sizes. I think I’m doing my part to close those gaps.”
PerfectDD started with better-fitting t-shirts and sweatshirts made from premium Pima and Supima cotton, and the brand quickly gained traction and expanded into capsule wardrobe pieces. And the reactions from customers were incredibly moving. “I had a client who canceled her breast reduction 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 says, her voice cracking slightly as she remembers the emotional moment. “[Another customer] said she felt worthy and seen and that she was enough. It keeps me going. I finally feel like hard work is paying off.”
And because she only wears her own designs, she is something of a walking advertisement for her brand, exuding the confidence she wants to bring to all of her customers. Your favorite piece? A corset body whose fit is often a challenge. “For women with fuller busts, the corset cup is often far too small, but mine provides complete coverage. The last thing I want is to feel self-conscious,” says Kim, who wears her dress with a blazer over it to dinner or a cocktail party.
We shouldn’t have to alter our bodies to fit into the clothes the mainstream media says our bodies should. Fashion brands need to do a better job of creating clothing that fits different shapes and sizes.
As a self-funded small business owner, Kim is quite open about the realities of entrepreneurial life. “I live and breathe work,” she says, gesturing around her small, 60-square-foot apartment in the West Village, which is also her workplace. “I don’t just have a role in the company; I wear so many different hats.”
And that’s why it’s so important to her to cultivate a community – support from other female entrepreneurs, but also from 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 as a model during the pandemic; or Carol, her sister, who is also her therapist and best friend; or Rachel, who was her first pattern maker; or Katie, a loyal customer turned model.
She credits her Chase Ink Business Cash Credit Card, a special business card separate from her personal credit, with easing some of the financial burdens of entrepreneurship. A cashback card is beneficial because it helps small business owners collect money on what they’re already spending – Kim, for example, uses these benefits to book flights and buy tickets for her team or, like her, to buy essential business equipment buy laptop and printer. In other words, she is able to take advantage of these rewards and reinvest in her business.
“It’s an added advantage and I don’t have to stress [about] Set a budget because my spending automatically gives me that pool [of cash back] I know it’s almost voluntary,” she says. “[Chase Ink] offers great rewards and perks. So if I’m going to spend the money anyway, why not reap the benefits?”
As Kim looks to the future, she is focused on growing PerfectDD and collaborating with other brands to bring her patented button-down technology to a wider audience. Kim sees this as a way to bring her innovation to the general public without compromising anyone else’s design – it’s just an added feature that improves the fit. And she hopes to one day lower prices to increase affordability without compromising quality — something that is important to her, along with ensuring fair wages, insurance and workers’ compensation for her factory employees.
“I want to reach as many women as possible; It is 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 body,” she says. “For most of my life, I wanted to fit in for several reasons: race, my body. I always felt different. That’s why I think my story is interesting because it’s been this long, four-decade journey, but ultimately I’m proud of who I am.”
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