Business partners Desiree Estrada and Arlene Battishill of Los Angeles pitched their business GoGo Gear on Shark Tank in 2012. GoGo Gear is a fashionable women’s clothing line designed to protect motorcycle riders. GoGo Gear hoodies and leggings are lined with Kevlar (fiber that protects the skin from abrasions) and reflective safety straps. On Shark Tank, Estrada and Battishill agreed to a $300,000 investment from fashion guru (and motorcyclist!) Daymond John in exchange for 65 percent equity.
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While GoGo Gear is still sold online, Battishill and Estrada never received the $300k from John. CEO Battishill explained to 2paragraphs:
“we mutually agreed to not proceed with the deal at the time we did it on the show because the industry that we provide products to literally imploded with us losing 8,000 out of 18,000 retailers in one year due to the after effects of the recession. So what we did is “hunker down” for a couple of years and then in 2015, our business really took off and at the beginning of 2016 we entered Europe and literally increased our sales 10 fold overnight and the rest is history as they say and so no need for Daymond’s assistance, we did it all on our own.”
