Kylie Jenner fans have been resurfacing a 2021 report from workers at her Kylie Cosmetics factory who exposed degrading working conditions.
The makeup mogul launched her brand back in 2016 and built it up to be a billion-dollar enterprise. But, for those who have worked to contribute to the brands’ success, the payout has been unfair to say the last.
Kylie Jenner’s factory workers say working for Kylie Cosmetics is ‘horrific.’
A former employee, Irene Lopez, says she was hired to work on the assembly line at Spatz Laboratories — the Oxnard, California factory where the cosmetic company manufactured their products at the time — back in 2016 by a temp agency.
Jenner, who doesn’t own or have direct control of Spatz, would often go to the factory and document her experience there, along with her mother Kris Jenner, on her Instagram Story.
In an interview with The Sun, Lopez, 32, revealed that Kylie “would come by and watch us work” during her visits.
“Before they would come in our supervisors would tell us, ‘You are not allowed to talk with them, you guys are supposed to keep on working, you guys are not allowed to take any pictures or ask any questions,'” Lopez said.
The former employee said that when Jenner would come to the factory, she didn’t talk to any of the employees, only watch as they made the products.
“We had to be quiet and continue working,” she said. “They would come around and just watch us on the machines or filling up the makeup tubes. They wouldn’t talk to us, they never talked to me, they would talk to the leads and just walk around and look at everything.”
Another former employee, Martha Molasco, worked at the factory from 2015 to 2017 after being hired by a temp agency and said there were strict rules for the employees when Kylie visited.
“Supervisors would say, ‘Don’t talk to them, don’t even look at them,'” she told The Sun.
“It was messed up. We were doing her product and we couldn’t talk to her,” she said. “We couldn’t see her. If we’re doing her product and all the work is on us, she should be aware of it.”
Lopez said she felt “degraded” during her time at Kylie Cosmetics.
She claims she was often left in tears after being reprimanded for not being fast enough on the production line.
She also claimed that she was expected to produce makeup items after only being trained for “five minutes” and was “verbally threatened” if she asked questions to her supervisors.
“The supervisors I had there had been very degrading towards everybody,” she explained. “Everything had to be perfectly made and if it wasn’t they would throw it away in your face like it was trash. If you didn’t go fast enough, you were going to get fired.”
Both former employees revealed that they were forced to work long-hour days on their feet and that many of the other employees would often “quit” or “leave” because of how demanding the job was.
“It was hard because they expected you to do all these hours for a minimum wage job, which I didn’t think was fair,” Lopez added.
Kylie, whose makeup line has greatly expanded since 2017, no longer works with Spaz Laboratories on the manufacturing of her makeup, though it is unknown if she, or her mother, were aware of the conditions at the factory.
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Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Keep up with her on Instagram and Twitter.
