THE CAT WAG EMPIRE
MEET the Geelong Cats WAG running a $7m bikini empire while in lockdown in an AFL hub.
Rebecca Klodinsky, whose swimwear label, IIXIIST, is worn by Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Bella Hadid, Rihanna and Hailey Bieber, moved into the Southport hub in Queensland last week.
Klodinsky’s boyfriend is Geelong’s Lachie Henderson.
“For families to be connected, we needed to go through this,” she said. “It was never ‘no’ for me. It was, ‘You have to do this, now get your head around it’.”
She runs her $7m swimwear empire, mostly on Zoom meetings, from her hotel room on the Gold Coast.
“There’s lots of f wives i and d kids and noise in the hub,” she said. “The AFL have been really good to us. It’s a difficult situation, but we’re good.”
Klodinsky said families had to take COVID tests before hub entry, and there were daily temperature checks. She paid tribute to Henderson for his love and support with the brand, which was changed from Frankie, then Frankii Swim, and now IIXIIST. “That man is incredible,” she said. “I don’t know how I would have got through without his support. He’s an amazing human being.”
She said having Kardashian, Rihanna and other superstars wear her brand “takes everything to the level you work so hard for. It’s like wildfire”. But, she said: “I never did this to be worn by Kim Kardashian or Kylie Jenner. My goals were to make really good swimwear for everyone, and for myself.”
Asked how it feels to be worth more than most of the players in the hub, Klodinsky laughed. “I keep my head down in here, to be honest. The numbers don’t mean anything. It’s only the hard work I see.”