The truth is, women need specialized jeans. If you’ve ever seen a woman wear guy jeans before, you understand exactly why – guys are more box shaped, while women are nearly overly-curvaceous. For this reason, it is why women in the year 2016 are unhappy that a lot of women-centric jeans do not even have deep enough pockets to hold your cell phone, forcing women to do an awkward juggle every time they just want to grab a seat.
Fortunately, Hip Chixs is a modern take on jeans for the year 2016. Read on to find out more about what Hip Chixs are, and how they can alleviate a woman from having to juggle her phone around while still looking sexy and stylish.
Hip Chixs on Shark Tank
Megan Jackson and Aimee Miller have just entered the Shark Tank. Their company is Hip Chixs, and they are seeking a $150,000 investment in exchange for 30% equity in their company. Hip Chixs is fun, and sexy, denim – and both Megan and Aimee think that it is the best pair of denim that money can buy. Both of the women were sorority sisters at Baylor University, Indiana. The two of them are totally obsessed with denim, Megan claims – you could not catch her on a day not wearing jeans, even though she only owns 5 pairs.
Aimee asks, who can blame her? Jeans are the perfect fashion statement that can be worn any time, day or night, dressy, casual, comfortable, sexy, or slimming – jeans are just too broad of a category. So, both Megan and Aimee set out to create the perfect pair of jeans. Hip Chixs actually angles to a woman’s body to accentuate the natural curves, like the angled pocket on the behind of the jeans. There is also a curved yoke on the back (the yoke is the seam of stitching), which means no more unwanted underwear-lines. No more muffin top, either! Robert makes an exaggerated “auuughh!” while Mark laughs.
Aimee continues on; there is also a specialized waistband in the back which keeps the jeans from dipping below a certain point, which is perfect for stopping any whale tail in the back. Daymond mentions that he has actually never heard the term “whale tail” before, and even Lori mouths along, ‘whale tail’ with the two women presenting. Aimee and Megan believe that Hip Chixs can become the next hottest sought-after denim line that every woman will want in their closet. In fact, Hip Chixs is at the tipping point and they need the investment from the Sharks in order to scale up their business.
Lori immediately asks the two women if they are wearing them, which they reply yes. Lori then explains that she wants to see what stops whale-tails and muffin tops. Aimee explains that normally waist-bands are circular, but they made theirs in an ovular shape. This gives the jeans some extra room when the wearer bends down. For muffin tops, the fabric is very forgiving and slimming. Kevin then asks about sales, which Aimee (disappointingly) says only have come out to around $12,000. Robert asks why the sales are so low, and Aimee explains that they did a test – they did tiers of research and essentially wanted to meet the needs of the market, so they did some testing in order to create the most premium product applicable. Robert is still baffled – in 2 years, they have only sold $12,000 worth of products. Robert then gives the example of Kevin giving them $150,000, then asks what the itinerary is for the next 12 months. Aimee explains that they need to double that investment, so they will attempt to push most of that money forward into sales. They have a very small salesforce, so they will invest in finding more salespeople. In addition, they also need to grow the catalogue of styles, so they will invest in more patterns and styles. Robert then asks how the sales will look if the two women receive their entire investment. Should the two women receive the investment, they will attempt to aim for $850,000 in sales through primarily boutiques. The two women would love a specialty boutique to partner with. Despite this, the two women have not spent a single red cent on advertising. They have primarily advertised through social media and found a lot of success without the requirement of spending any money. In fact, the two women actually did a test run of 300 pairs of jeans with a boutique recently.
Mark asks about how those 300 pairs of jeans did compared to the other styles of jeans. Aimee explains that they sold over 30 brands at the boutique, but they were in the top quarter of the sellers. Daymond then asks how much each pair of jeans retails for, which comes out to around $187 before tax. He then asks how much each unit costs to sell to the store, which comes out to $80. He finally asks how much each unit costs to produce, which comes out to around $68 with labor inclusive. Kevin is distraught at this, and points out that they are only making a measly $12 on each unit, which does not include the cost of distribution.
Aimee then explains that with scaling, their cost per unit will go down, which is true – however, Kevin points out they are making no money. Megan explains that this is why they are here, in order to find funds to place a bigger order and get each unit to cost less. Kevin, still unpersuaded, points out that the two women are “dragging him to hell with them.” Daymond explains that this is his space, since he made his millions with FUBU, and most of the jean players are trying to bring their prices down to $120 or so. The days of $180 to $220 jeans are finally over, and right now people are struggling to pay their mortgages. They are wearing pairs of faded, repaired jeans forever.
Robert then turns to Daymond, posting a hypothetical question; suppose Daymond and Robert launch a denim brand and hire some designers. Robert wants to fund it, so he wants to know what a theoretical check would have to be in order for that new hypothetical company to gain 1% market share of the denim market. For a denim line, that might need to be $5 million, Daymond estimates. Kevin immediately and jokingly says that he is interested in the deal. Robert also says that the two women did not ask for enough money, and even Aimee says that she knew it. Robert gets serious; the two women are incredibly nice and have done a great job with their presentation. But, one store is simply not enough, so Robert is the first Shark out of the deal. Lori speaks next, thinking that the two women need a lot of money. It is too high of a hill to tackle, but the two women are designers – do something unique and different, where they might not have a lot of competition. This way, they can corner a market, and people will back them, and they can get out there quickly. But unfortunately, Lori is also out of the deal.
Daymond says that if he were one of the two women, he would take 100 or 200 pairs of jeans and give them out to women. Women are always obsessed with the fit, and almost every woman thinks that they can be the designer or the star of tomorrow, but the reality is that they know nothing about it. If they mail 200 pairs to an individual person and partner up with a person, one may say, “this is such an incredible pair – yes, I’ll partner up with you!” You then bring this person to a Shark, and that Shark will die to give you the money. But, today, Daymond is out of the deal.
Mark says that if the two woman can make a woman’s “tushie” make look better than any other pair of jeans, then the two women will have hit a goldmine. Women are always obsessed with the fit and look of their jeans, so the drive to perfect the product will be a struggle. The two women can eventually get there, but unfortunately, Mark is out of the deal today. He believes the two woman will be able to grow the company on their own and find a niche of the market to corner and make their own.
Kevin, however, feels that Mark is doing the two woman a big disservice. The two women would have 0 probability of success, so the more time spent pursuing the dream, the more time is spent wasted – Kevin truly does not feel that this venture can be successful at all. He continues on, saying that if the two women were entrepreneurs, then they would be able to find something with a probability of success. The jeans market is just too saturated – there is no chance they can grab any share in the business. Kevin is the last, and final, Shark out of the deal.
Aimee and Megan, unfortunately, leave the Shark Tank with heavy hearts. Robert and Lori then turn to Kevin, lecturing him on how he must be nicer to people and how he should not go and crush the dreams of an entrant into the Shark Tank.
Hip Chixs Now in 2018- The After Shark Tank Update
Despite Mr Wonderful’s not-so-wonderful view towards Hip Chixs, the product remains strong and is still active today. Now, Hip Chixs is primarily available from their website, HipChixs.com, and feature a variety of jeans added to their product line. Hip Chixs now includes a straight leg jean, a boot cut jean and a classic slimming jean. These range as low as waist size 24 (in inches), up through a size 32 (the measurement can be converted on the website, but a size 24 is a size 0 for women’s). The jeans are made from a mixture of 98% cotton and 2% spandex.
Unfortunately, the price of Hip Chixs seems not to have budged, as suggested by the Sharks, and this could be what sinks their ship in the long run; their straight and narrow jeans start at the price of $145, while the other two pairs of jeans cost $160.
