Yesterday (July 6), Kim Kardashian announced that her KKW Beauty empire is temporarily shutting down, in preparation for a complete rebrand. 

According to a statement from Kim Kardashian on Instagram, KKW Beauty will close down August 1 at midnight, with the site’s entire stock of products going on sale before then. In the post, the reality TV star and beauty tycoon explains that the company will “come back to you under an entirely new brand with new formulas that are more modern, innovative, and packaged under a sustainable new look.” 

“I’m excited to continue to develop and expand my product range and for you to finally be able to experience it the way that I have always envisioned,” continued Kardashian. 

While the reasoning behind the rebrand remains unclear, some fans are speculating that Kim is dropping the ‘W’ from her brand’s name – which stands for her surname ‘West’ from her former marriage to Kanye West – following their divorce in January. Perhaps KK Beauty is on the horizon? On social media, however, the Kardashian has continued using Kim Kardashian West as her full name. 

Otherwise, last month Kim’s sister and fellow beauty brand founder, Kylie Jenner, shut down her brand Kylie Cosmetics for “a little makeover”. The site will reopen July 15 with new branding and products, as well as an all-vegan range of reformulated lip kits. 

As stated in Forbes, the two companies’ mirroring rebrands may have to do with legal issues with former manufacturing company Seed Beauty, who filed a lawsuit against Kylie Cosmetics’ majority owner Coty Beauty last month. According to the complaint, Kylie Cosmetics exposed Seed Beauty’s confidential trade secrets to Coty, which owns multiple other beauty brands including Burberry, Gucci Beauty, and Rimmel. 

Now, Seed Beauty seems to be suing KKW Beauty in protection of their trade secrets, anticipating Coty will purchase Kim’s beauty brand, as well. 

In other KKW news, last March, Kardashian filed to trademark SKKN by Kim across skincare, hair, nails, perfume, and candle categories – prompting fans to anticipate the addition of a new skincare line to Kim’s beauty empire. While the products are yet to materialise, we’re hoping they make an appearance in the rebrand.

Read Kim Kardashian’s full statement on KKW Beauty below.