Foot Cardigan before the Shark Tank:
Foot Cardigan is the brain child of both Bryan DeLuca and Matt McClard from Dallas, Texas. The duo came up with this idea and began their company back in 2012 with a mere $6,000 to get them started. Foot Cardigan is a sock subscription service for men, women and children all over the world. The premise of the company is that both Bryan DeLuca and Matt McClard turn an everyday errand into a fun monthly event. Customers can look forward to their uniquely designed socks arriving in the mail each month. As well as that the knowledge that socks will be arriving in the mail will put your mind at ease when yet another pair of socks goes missing mysteriously in the process of doing the laundry! Not only have DeLuca and McClard come up with a fun way of running an errand such as buying socks, it is practical too.
Each month, a designed pair of socks arrives at the customers’ door for a monthly subscription fee of $9 per month. Sock Cardigan is a service open to children too. For a subscription fee of just $11 per month parents can subscribe to have two deliveries of socks for their child per month. As well as offering the subscription service, customers have the option of buying a single uniquely designed pair of socks. Sock Cardigan had received some attention national attention in the US back in 2012 when they produced red and blue Obama/Romney socks in the run up to the presidential election.
Both DeLuca and McClard knew they needed some extra capital as well as help from the sharks to get their company up and running successfully. They decided to bring Foot Cardigan to the shark tank. The question is however; will this innovative idea be enough for one of the sharks to bite?
Foot Cardigan in the Shark Tank:

Bryan and Matt enter the shark tank and begin explaining to the sharks they are interested in a $250,000 investment for a 10% equity stake Foot Cardigan. They are quick to grab the sharks’ attention by throwing off the pants they are wearing to reveal their very own designed socks – products of Foot Cardigan. The sharks are instantly amused. DeLuca and McClard describe the service Sock Cardigan offers as one that ‘spreads cheer all over the planet one sock at a time’. Further to this, the fact that the pair of socks is randomly selected for the customer each month means that they never know what they will get which maintains the element of surprise.
Lori opens the questioning and asks how long the business has been running and thee sharks pay full attention when they hear that the sales over the past three years have been just over $1.36 million. Guest shark and media mogul Troy Carter asks how many subscribers DeLuca and McClard have to Foot Cardigan which then stood at approximately six thousand.
Kevin starts talking money and seems eager to get all the details on this innovative and quirky subscription service. DeLuca and McClard go on to explain that there’s an ebb and flow of subscriptions. Sock Cardigan can be quite seasonal with the number of subscribers reaching a peak around holiday season before it decreases again. According to the duo, men are most definitely the biggest subscriber to this service. Lori smiles and comments how DeLuca and McClard are right on trend and in tune with the quirky designs men seem to look for in socks.
Daymond gets more specific and asks about sales in the last twelve months to which the duo reply that they have obtained sales of about $900,000 in the last year. There is a murmur of agreement among the sharks with them all being clearly impressed that Sock Cardigan has been so successful so far. There is a further silence when the duo declare they hope to hit sales of $1.5 million in the coming year. DeLuca and McClard explain for the first two years Sock Cardigan was a part time venture and they have recently taken the plunge to work at the business full time.
Daymond asks about the fussier client out there and wonders if it is a possibility to pick the sock design to which the duo reply that it is not an option currently. The feedback from customers has been so positive regarding the random element of the receiving the various designs and that is one of the things that make this company so unique.
Lori admits she thinks the socks are very cute but can’t seem to see how Foot Cardigan make themselves different from the other sock companies. Furthermore, she doesn’t see how she would be able to make back her $250,000 in a realistic time frame so she steps out.
Daymond comments how it has never happened that he has given an offer to two guys who have stood in front of him in their underwear. He goes on to say he is willing to offer the $250,000 but for a 22.5% equity share in the company with a stipulation of getting another sock company he invested in, Bombas, on board.
Kevin quickly follows with a counter offer of the full $250,000 for a 15% equity share in the company. He has a stipulation to the offer too though and wants quarterly distributions given to all shareholders.
Troy disagrees with the quarterly distribution idea that Kevin has brought to the table and admits he really likes the idea of a subscription service. He goes on to make an offer of $250,000 for a 15% equity share in Foot Cardigan.
This just leaves Mark Cuban who bides his time before deciding on the best course of action. Mark sets himself apart from the other sharks by saying his main focus is not how quickly he can get his money back but how big can the company potentially get. He then goes on to explain that he can have Foot Cardigan all set up in Dallas with offices and a warehouse – a seemingly perfect solution for DeLuca and McClard. Kevin then makes the suggestion that Mark and Troy could potentially team up to make an offer and a new offer of $250,000 for a total of 20% is made – a 10% equity share each for Mark and Troy. DeLuca and McClard do not need to take much time to consider the offer before agreeing to partner with fellow Texan Mark Cuban and Troy Carter. The deal is met by applause from the other sharks, all clearly satisfied that a great concept got a good deal. DeLuca and McClard exit the tank overwhelmed and ecstatic.
Foot Cardigan Now in 2018– After Shark Tank Updates

Foot Cardigan most certainly felt the ‘shark tank effect’ as the sales and subscriptions rolled in in the days following the episode being aired on ABC. In the two days that followed, orders for their now famous socks were seen coming through every ten seconds. In the five days that followed, almost 90,000 pairs of socks were distributed with demand being so high. Further to that, subscriptions went up by a whopping 7,000 subscribers.
When DeLuca, McClard and the other two founders of Foot Cardigan sat down with sharks Mark Cuban and Troy Carter to close the deal, unfortunately it did not work out. However, they all left the table amicably and Mark has since contacted the Foot Cardigan entrepreneurs offering both encouragement and advice.
The fact that the deal did not close is not at all disheartening or disappointing for DeLuca or McClard. They now feel like they have experienced the best of both worlds – Foot Cardigan has become an overnight success due to the media coverage it received after the appearance on Shark Tank AND they didn’t have to part with a twenty per cent equity share of the company.
Overall, it seems like Foot Cardigan have been a huge success and although no deal was closed in the end, Shark Tank played a major role.