Shower Toga Before Shark Tank
Kressa Peterson and her family liked participating in obstacle course races. Unfortunately, by the time someone is done with the course, they are muddy and sweaty and need to take a shower. Most events did not have adequate showering facilities and people had to shower in the open.
Showering in the open is not a fun activity because of how devoid of privacy it is. Kressa decided to develop a way for people to shower comfortably in the open. She then developed the shower toga to help people shower in public while still enjoying some privacy. The shower toga is a toga that can be wrapped around the body as a person showers. This allows them to wash and change anywhere.
The shower toga is made of a material that does not absorb water ensuring that it stays dry. It can also be folded to make a duffel bag. That way, it and the dirty clothes that an individual has can be carried around anywhere with ease.
Kressa successfully launched her product and went on to make very good profit margins. Unfortunately, she was having a hard time growing her business. Shower Toga was not Kressa’s first business she had run several other businesses before but Shower Toga meant a lot to her because of its impact.
She requested to be on Shark Tank and her request was approved. She was featured on the 14th episode of season 10 with her husband, son, and daughter. This episode of Shark Tank featured Alli Webb as a guest shark.
Shower Toga on Shark Tank
Most of the sharks liked the product especially after they were shown that the shower toga converted into a duffel bag where its own dirt and the dirty clothes that a person had been wearing could be kept. Â Kevin then asked her how many she had sold and she said that she had got $80,000 from sales of the bag. She had been selling the bag since November of that year.
Mark Cuban asked her where she had sold the bags and he was told that she had sold them all over the world. Her family and she participated in obstacle course races all over the world and she sold them at those events. Alli Webb asked her what she was doing before she started selling the Togas and she said that she had always been an entrepreneur.
Before she started selling togas, Kessra used to have a home building business in Atlanta which she shut down when the housing market collapsed. She then worked as a broker for high-end sports horses. Robert then asked her what her retail price was and she said that her retail price was $34.98. Her wholesale price was $16 and it cost her $2.85 to make. The sharks liked her profit margins.
Kevin then asked her if her competition was a garbage bag. She disagreed with the remark saying that it was like saying that a balloon was a replacement for a condom. Kevin then asked her why a garbage can wouldn’t do the same thing. She said that the first problem was that a garbage bag would tear easily if accidentally stepped on while wearing it. Kevin said that the garbage bags at Whole Leaves would not tear.
Kevin insisted that he couldn’t see a difference between it and the garbage bag that was bought at the store for $2. Kressa then said that she had an order for 1,000 units from one of the fastest growing race companies in the United States. Alli then asked her who else she had sold it to besides surfers and racers.
Kressa said that a woman who was a caregiver for the elderly had bought it because her patients felt more comfortable when they bathed with it on rather than being fully naked. She thought that it was an untapped market. Kevin then left. He said that he liked her energy but he didn’t want to invest in a product whose competition cost 99 cents. Kressa then told him that she would give him 30 seconds to reconsider his exit.
Mark Cuban then asked her if she had sold it online and she said that she had recently started selling on Amazon but it was harder. Kressa then said that she had quit her job that April. She then rented out her house, bought a truck, and went to obstacle course races selling her products from a Mako Fifth Wheel trailer. She went from show to show selling her goods.
Alli then asked Kressa what her business meant to her because of how passionate she was. Kressa said that she was diagnosed with breast cancer five years before. She had needed something to do to avoid focusing on her illness and the business worked as a distraction at that time.
Robert said that he was not there as an investor but he thought that if anyone could make something out of the Shower Toga business, it was Kressa. He then left. Kressa then told Robert she would offer him 30 seconds to reconsider his exit.
Lori said that she didn’t see why Kressa was looking for help. She thought that Kressa had everything that she needed and she (Lori) had nothing to offer. Lori then left.
Mark Cuban suggested that she change her name to something more relevant. He then said that he and Alli liked the product and they would offer her $80,000 for 40% of the company. Each shark would get 20% of the business. Kressa accepted the offer. She said that their partnership vindicated all her decisions to give up so much to make Shower Toga a success.
Shower Toga After Shark Tank
Shower Toga has gone on to increase its line of products and now also includes a shower. They also provide togas in a variety of sizes. They used to only offer one size before but they now offer a whole range of sizes. Shower toga donated some of its clothing to people when Covid-19 struck. Covid-19 did slow their growth creating supply chain challenges that they did not have before but they are recovering.
Shower Toga’s Tik Tok page is its biggest and it has more than 17,000 followers on the site. It has also amassed a following of over 8,000 people on Facebook and over 3,000 people on Instagram. Shower Toga had a Kickstarter fundraising when it was launching a new product, shower to go, that raised $20,207 for it. They had targeted $4,000.
Shower Toga is currently making an annual revenue of $240,000 per month. Kressa Peterson has gone on record saying that it is a labor of love and she will not quit no matter what challenges she faces because the Journey has been that much fun.