Similar to the shoes company Tom’s, Bombas donates a pair of their athletic socks with every purchase made. (Socks are the most requested clothing items at homeless shelters.) The founders of Bombas, Randy Goldberg and David Heath, pitched their one-for-one charitable business model on Shark Tank in 2014. They went into the Tank seeking $200,000 in exchange for 5 percent equity. They ultimately accepted a $200k investment from FUBU founder Daymond John for 17.5 percent.
[Related: 27 Favorite ‘Shark Tank’ Products — New List]
Three years later, John says Bombas is one of his top three investments he’s ever made on Shark Tank. And John knows how difficult it is so sell socks. “I have a warehouse full of FUBU socks,” he once said in an interview. In addition to the charitable model of Bombas, John was also attracted to Bombas’ exclusively online sales model. John has told Bombas to stay away from brick and mortar, and (for the most part) they’ve listened. Bombas is on track to do $50 million in sales for 2017. In April, 60,000 pairs of socks were distributed to 60 homeless shelters in Manhattan in one day (see video below). Keep in mind, they reported $450,000 in sales when they appeared on Shark Tank.
