BootayBag 2024 Update – What Happened After Shark Tank

BootayBag Before Shark Tank

When we’re young, clothes are bought for us and we have little say. However, as we get older we are given more freedom and we get to choose what we want to wear. Unfortunately, that’s when the problems start and we see how hard it is to get clothing not because it’s not being made but because we don’t know where to buy it.

Sometimes, the hardest part about shopping for new clothes is knowing where to buy them. This is one of the problems that Elly Gheno experienced as she tried to go about her life. Elly never thought that she would be much of an entrepreneur and as a young adult, she spent her hours working in her mother’s salon.

During her free time Elly would shop and it was around then that she noticed that underwear shopping was an extremely terrible experience. She was constantly diving into bins to find the best underwear. It is from such experiences that Elly decided to start BootayBag which was a brand determined to improve the shopping experience for everyone.

BootayBag is a website where users subscribe for a certain amount and for that subscription they get a certain amount of underwear monthly.  BootayBag subscribers could pick the underwear that they wanted from its website.

BootayBag was a hit but Elly had many problems getting her price of inventory down and getting it on time. She wanted a shark to help and so she came to the show and was on the second episode of season 12. Kendra Scott, the founder of Kendra Scott LLC, was also on the show as a guest shark.

BootayBag on Shark Tank

Elly Gheno walked into the Shark Tank hoping to bag $500,000 for 5% of her company valuing BootayBag at $10,000,000. The sharks thought that his amount was high and it could be seen by their expressions as they heard the offer. She then told the sharks about what inspired her to start BootayBag and how the business worked. More than just showing them how the business worked, she also told the sharks that the business donated to women in need.

Kevin was the first to speak after the presentation was done and he asked if it was a subscription service. He was uncertain about how it worked. Elly confirmed that it was a monthly subscription and people were not committed to anything.

Elly then gave the sharks her pricing. On BootayBag, a woman could get 1 pair of underwear for $10, 2 for $15, or 4 for $20 a month. Kevin then asked if her pricing meant that a person was burning through 4 underwear every month. Elly said that a person could skip or cancel whenever they wanted. However, there was also the option of just switching your style and downgrading or upgrading.

Kendra then asked her if the bags that were on the sharks’ tables were samples and if they could look at them. Elly confirmed that they were and that the sharks could open the bags. Kendra also asked if the package was how the underwear was delivered and Elly said that it was.

Kendra then asked Elly if she manufactured them herself. Elly said that she did design all of them, and she stuffed them extra.  There were some bralets in the bags as well. The sharks thought that the packages looked good. Kendra then asked Elly how she got started.

Elly said that both of her parents were entrepreneurs and although she did not seem to pay attention she must have been because she was always doing entrepreneurial ventures such as opening a lemonade stand. Her mother owned a hair salon and she spent all her summers at the salon. She later thought that her path was to own a hair salon.

However, she stumbled upon the hobby of underwear shopping and she developed the habit of bargain hunting and searching for quality underwear.  Over time, she developed the notion that underwear shopping was a terrible shopping experience. She then decided that she would get into the business. She was convinced that it would be easy.

She had a website in just two days and then borrowed $300 to get the business up and running. This was in 2016. Kevin then asked her what her sales figures were since then. Elly said that they had made around $3,000,000 from the start of the year till then, an amount that the sharks commended. Elly then told Kendra that she had inspired her and that being in the Shark Tank was just so cool for her.

Mark Cuban then asked her how much money she had raised since then. Elly said that she had not raised money and did not have any debt. Kevin then asked her how she had paid for inventory. Elly said that she went to a store, got clearance underwear which is sold at a much cheaper rate, and then paid for packaging.

Elly then moved on to find places where she could buy bulk underwear. She found a manufacturer and did her own private label. She then graduated all the steps and moved on and due to public demand, she had to find a way to have her own private line. Mark Cuban then asked her how people found her at the beginning.

Elly said that BootayBag had a huge following on Instagram. Kendra asked her how she gathered the following and Elly said that it was all user-generated as users would post pictures. Kevin then asked her what her cumulative lifetime sales were.  Elly said that they had realized sales of $15,000,000 to that date. The sharks commended her for her success.

Barbara then asked her why she was in the Shark Tank asking for $500,000 because it looked like she was doing quite well. Elly said that she was using a broker but if she had a factory connection, she would have shorter lead times. Elly said that her lead times were extremely long. When she was asked what her lead times were she said that they were around 8 months. This meant that if a design was completed on a certain day, she would not have the finished product at her office after 8 months.

Kevin asked why that was the case. Elly said that BootayBag was a very small business. Kevin asked her if she would partner with a manufacturer so that she would never have inventory. Elly said that it was the reason why she was on the Shark Tank. It was her first attempt at what Kevin was describing.

Mark Cuban then concluded that she hadn’t made any money yet. Elly agreed and said that she would only get 5% of her revenue as a net profit. Kevin then said that most successful clothing lines made about 15% in pretax profit. Kevin thought that the difference in profit margins could all be found in inventory. He thought that it was even worth it for her to give up some of her equity to her manufacturer if they could solve this problem for her.

Elly then said that she had experienced a lot of difficulty working with manufacturers. She was advised to be more aggressive. Kendra then offered Elly, $500,000 but for 10% of her company. She said that when she was younger she made the mistake of not calling for an investor sooner but Elly did not have to make that mistake.

Barbara then said that Elly didn’t know how to manufacture in Asia but she did and she could help Elly with this. Barbara then offered Elly $500,000 for 20% of the business. Kendra and Barbara then decided to partner and they offered $500,000 for 20%.

Kevin then offered Elly $500,000 for 15%. He said that he had logistics in Vietnam with 3 manufacturing companies over there at the time. His experience with manufacturing was extensive. Elly then turned down Kendra and Barbara’s offer of $500,000 for 20%. She said that the amount was a bit too high for her.

Kendra then withdrew from Barbara’s offer and offered Elly $500,000 for 10% of the business as she first had. Elly then accepted the offer from Kendra. She said that she had wanted to work with Kendra and she had got Kendra and she was ready to take over the world.

BootayBag Now in 2024 – The After Shark Tank Episode

BootayBag got a deal from Kendra and it continues to operate solely from its website. The options have now increased and people can buy for $36 a month the essential set. A lingerie set is also available and the subscription rate for the set is $44 monthly.

BootayBag owed its success to Instagram and it currently has over 200,000 followers on the social media platform. It has not slowed its pace in any way on the social media site. BootayBag also has a Tik Tok account where it has over 8,000 followers. Although it is smaller than its Instagram account, it is also much newer with its first post being in October of 2021. There is a lot of room for growth.

BootayBag is currently making an annual revenue of $4,000,000. Whether the inventory challenge was resolved is yet to be known because, from the start, it never had a sales problem only a problem in increasing profit margin and reducing the time it takes for their inventory to arrive. The company is still located in Denver Colorado and nothing seems to slow it down, it’s only getting better.