0:03

Hey

0:07

everyone, and welcome to another bite

0:09

where we rewatch the most innovative and

0:11

intriguing pitches from Shark Tank. I'm Jory

0:14

and I'm joined by the ambitious, the

0:16

adaptable, and the admirable Ariel. Hey friends!

0:19

Some hobbies, like hiking, can come cheap.

0:22

Other hobbies, not so much. Rabbit

0:24

collectors will shell out thousands of dollars

0:26

to get the latest and greatest hat,

0:28

figurine, or sneaker. Today's founders

0:31

are banking on just that. Will

0:33

their sneaker company, inspired by the auspicious date

0:35

of 1587, be a hit? Or

0:39

will the Sharks see this as more of a

0:41

miss? We'll find out after this break. Marketing

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started for free. Today

1:18

in the tank we have 1587 sneakers. And

1:21

I promise, loyal listeners, I will definitely say that

1:23

number wrong at least once during this segment because

1:25

1587, very specific. Anywho,

1:28

1587 sneakers is brought to us by

1:30

founders Sam and Adam who are asking

1:32

for $100,000 for

1:35

15.87% of their business, which is a whopping $360,000 valuation. Now

1:43

1587 sneakers is a sneaker company and

1:45

it's entirely based on this year that

1:48

is the first time

1:50

that an Asian stepped foot on North America,

1:52

which was 1587. And

1:55

their product is a sneaker company that's

1:57

trying to drill into the very

2:00

rich history that Asian Americans have

2:02

with our country. So they're trying

2:04

to prove that Asian Americans aren't

2:06

just follower consumers, particularly in the

2:08

realm of sneakers, that they're leaders

2:10

and they're leading the gang in

2:12

terms of classic styles and affordable

2:14

products that are also made from

2:16

quality materials. So you'll see that

2:18

this product is actually marketing primarily

2:20

towards Asians, although we find out

2:23

later in the pitch that 30

2:25

percent of the customers actually aren't Asians,

2:28

but they're selling direct to consumers. And

2:30

I think we can think about this

2:32

as a bit more of like a

2:35

lifestyle brand that focuses primarily on well-made

2:37

shoes from Italy. As of the

2:39

tank, they had started 10 months

2:41

ago, so it's very much still a

2:43

new company. But thinking about our pitch,

2:45

our founders, and our products, Ariel, thoughts

2:47

on 1587 sneakers. I

2:50

love the branding. I'm sure we'll dive

2:53

into it. Yes. So it was giving

2:55

Kahawa 1893. Coffee

2:57

a little bit, remember? We actually

2:59

interviewed the founder in a past

3:01

episode and it really reminded me

3:03

of this coffee brand because it's

3:05

so rooted in a piece of

3:07

history that we don't learn so

3:09

much about in the American school

3:11

system. So I love the

3:14

fact that they were able to

3:16

tie in something that is preserving

3:18

history, that is serving as a

3:20

voice to underrepresented voices within the

3:22

sneaker heads community. I think

3:24

these are all really strong differentiators for

3:26

the brand itself. I think this product,

3:29

though, when we think about sneakers, highly

3:31

competitive market, the sharks kind of get

3:33

into distribution channels. And I think they're

3:36

mostly in alignment that retail may not

3:38

be the best space. But I think

3:40

the way that the story is told

3:42

and the fact that this roots so

3:45

much into history, an actual history, is

3:47

a differentiator compared to a Nike or

3:49

a footlocker. It's less about the designs

3:52

of the shoes. It's less about the

3:54

feels and the experience. To me, their

3:56

main bread and butter for this product

3:59

is. the brand and how effectively they

4:01

can tell the story. Visually,

4:03

beautiful branding, very clean,

4:06

minimalistic. But I

4:08

think they need to ensure that where

4:10

they are showing up from a distribution

4:12

perspective communicates that story effectively or else

4:15

there is nothing that is going to

4:17

drive folks to purchase these shoes from

4:19

a brand that they haven't heard of

4:22

before or don't understand the context behind

4:24

1587 versus other

4:26

bigger brands in the space.

4:29

And it gets a little sticky,

4:31

right? Because the concept, gorgeous. Lifestyle

4:34

brand following on Instagram, less so. So we

4:36

find out like as of the taping that

4:38

they have 7,000 followers,

4:41

which again, 10 months

4:43

is still a following. It is

4:45

a following. They exist, but it's

4:48

very difficult when you need that

4:50

flash point of virality and growth.

4:53

I guess it comes back to sort

4:55

of like the fundamentals of we have

4:57

a good story, we have a good

4:59

concept. How do we build

5:01

a community? So when talking

5:03

about like a lifestyle brand or

5:06

building a community, especially around like

5:08

a physical consumer good, what

5:10

would you recommend these founders look into to

5:12

experience that sort of scale and to get

5:15

that story out? Because I think it's an

5:17

awareness problem, less of a like product or

5:19

quality problem. Yeah, I mean, for being 10

5:21

months in the business, definitely an awareness play.

5:24

I think between Sam and Adam, they mentioned

5:26

that I think one of them was an

5:28

influencer, right? That has like a pretty steady

5:30

following. I think that

5:33

is the play here, you can tap

5:35

into influencers within the Asian American community.

5:37

First thing that came to mind my

5:39

unhinged thought is the ABG is the

5:42

Asian baby girls who are very aesthetically

5:44

cute, fashionable, like showing off their outfits.

5:46

Like I think there's really fun influencers

5:48

within that space that could already have

5:50

that domain authority and audience to increase

5:53

awareness and exposure, but it cannot be

5:55

their only means because if they continue

5:57

to be this niche, they're are going

5:59

to run into a lot of challenges.

6:02

I think they best need to position

6:04

this brand as this is

6:06

how we're reinventing the shoe category. It hasn't

6:08

changed in the last 50 years. The way

6:10

that Nike, Foot Locker, all these brands go

6:12

to market hasn't changed. This needs to be

6:14

disruptive. This is 1587. Be

6:17

a part of that disruptive kind of

6:19

moment and rethink the way that underrepresented

6:21

voices have a seat at the table

6:23

in this industry. I think that's the

6:25

broader push that they need to keep

6:27

fundamentally. Tactically, though, they could reach out

6:29

to very specific Asian communities, but I

6:31

really think they need to be more

6:33

broad in their audience. Yeah. The

6:36

thing too is they need to

6:38

engage the sneaker head community. Now

6:40

I will be very transparent that

6:42

I don't know anything about

6:44

sneaker heads, Ariel. I'm front loading

6:46

that in terms of my

6:49

recommendation here. But we've seen similar products

6:51

on Shark Tank. So I'm going to

6:53

take a similar flavor of recommendation as

6:55

our custom hats product

6:57

that we reviewed a couple months ago.

7:00

I think what they should do

7:02

is they should focus on the

7:04

rabid purchasing power of a super

7:06

obsessed fan base. It's like

7:09

sneaker heads, I'm assuming, based on just that

7:11

name alone, really are focused on

7:13

getting the newest, coolest sneaker. Cool.

7:16

Amazing. You can tap into

7:18

the psychology of that buying behavior any day of the week. You

7:20

want to do it to a specific demographic. Have that even more.

7:23

Get the artists that are

7:25

known in the Asian American

7:27

community, get them painting or

7:29

customizing certain sneakers, doing super

7:31

limited drops. Get your

7:33

favorite influencers designing with you,

7:35

even if it's specific colors.

7:37

They don't even have to be complicated sneakers. Two

7:40

block colored sneakers that are designed by

7:42

your favorite influencer do a limited drop.

7:46

Get it so that people have incentive

7:48

to keep coming back to your social

7:50

media platform because it's not just about

7:52

followers. It's also getting people to continuously

7:54

reengage with you and repurchase from you.

7:56

You just don't want someone to own

7:58

one pair of sneakers and then. and

8:00

they fall off and you never get them

8:02

again. This type of community building and lifestyle

8:05

brands, you need people bought in. And

8:07

the best way I could think about doing it if

8:09

you have this type of product is, you

8:12

need to do limited drops, you need

8:14

to gamify it in some way, and

8:16

then just get the people that are

8:18

already big names in your community doing

8:20

it. That's artists, that's musicians, that's your

8:22

favorite influencers. You could do really fun

8:24

things with influencers that maybe are in

8:26

the gaming community, but they still design

8:28

something super specific for you. I think

8:30

you could tap into multiple communities that

8:32

are within your larger demographic and then

8:34

just have them each build custom sneakers

8:36

with you. And through a

8:38

couple of just strategic partnerships or influencer

8:40

marketing campaigns with the right people, you

8:43

just get more eyes on you. And

8:45

sure, it's gonna cost some money upfront,

8:47

but I think it's also going to

8:49

show that you're really valuing that community.

8:51

But I think it's gonna take more

8:54

than just them telling their story on

8:56

social to get there. But

8:58

I am curious about how you would

9:00

expand this, how you would continue to

9:03

scale their go-to-market where it is more

9:05

of a like sneakers for everyone while

9:07

still kind of maintaining that really strong

9:09

brand story around the Asian American community.

9:12

So I think from what I know about

9:14

sneaker heads, never ever wear the

9:16

shoes. Oh. And the more rare

9:19

and exclusive the shoe is, or

9:21

harder to find, the better. So I

9:23

think you're onto something with the limited

9:25

time offering. Cool. So

9:28

if I was gonna broaden this, I would

9:30

start first with the base of Asian American

9:32

influencers. Offer some kind of incentive for the

9:34

influencers that you're working with to design a

9:36

shoe. If it's gonna be

9:38

a limited time offering and you

9:40

have your production all in place

9:42

in manufacturing's in a good spot,

9:44

why not just offer that? And

9:46

I think to your point, that

9:48

continuous engagement algorithms love that. The

9:50

more that you share and send

9:52

videos, the higher you bump up

9:54

in your organic algorithm. So I

9:57

think by training your buyers to

9:59

know, okay, a drop is happening

10:01

the first Friday. of every month,

10:03

this upcoming month, it's gonna be

10:05

the specific influencer that I love.

10:07

You get some cross promotion going

10:09

on. I think that's a really

10:11

strong way to kind of build

10:13

that awareness and build that audience

10:15

first. And then, you know, from

10:17

there expanding on, you know, I

10:19

think continuing to have, you know,

10:21

a pipeline of artists or influencers

10:23

within the community is critical to

10:25

make this be successful. So I

10:28

think really having a clear thought

10:30

out partner program or influencer program

10:32

in place will definitely

10:34

be a game changer. Story

10:36

can only carry so far. Yeah. And,

10:38

you know, I was thinking about it too,

10:40

is it doesn't even go that much against

10:43

their current manufacturing play. Granted, they're still proving

10:45

out concept and things, so they're only getting

10:47

these sneakers in small batches. But if you're

10:49

doing limited drops, small batch production is actually

10:51

not a bad thing, right? Because you would

10:53

want them to be really exclusive. So while

10:56

they mentioned that they're like moving away from

10:58

like Italian manufacturers, I don't think they would

11:00

need to, as Damon mentioned, like produce a

11:02

bunch of these sneakers in a bunch of

11:04

sizes, right? Like you have what you have

11:06

and once it's gone, you don't have to

11:09

worry about carrying all that inventory overhead. So

11:12

then we start to dive into the costs.

11:14

I'm just gonna talk about it in terms

11:16

of their Italian productions because there's a lot

11:18

that's happening now that they're moving their manufacturers

11:20

to Asia, but this is what we know

11:22

so far. So as of the taping, cost

11:25

to make in Italy around $110, that's

11:28

expensive to make. They do mention that it's quality

11:30

Italian leather and whatnot and they're able to get-

11:32

No, there's no reason. I'm sorry, when I heard

11:34

that I was so shocked. I was like, there

11:36

is some low hanging fruit that you can kind

11:38

of cut. They are getting it down to 50

11:41

with their new manufacturer in Asia. They do say

11:43

that. But it's the cost

11:45

to the consumer. And like, again, maybe this

11:47

is because I'm not a sneaker head but

11:49

like they mentioned that originally they were selling

11:52

these for $288. They

11:54

did get it down to 175, but

11:56

these are very much a premium

11:59

sneaker. Granted. they're projected to make

12:01

$500,000 as of this year

12:03

because this is the taping year, but

12:06

expensive sneakers. Is

12:08

that premium? I feel like sneakers can

12:11

go way depending on

12:13

the shoe. Maybe. Right? Because these are everyday

12:15

shoes. Again, not a sneaker head. These aren't

12:17

collection shoes. You're paying $288 to walk around

12:19

in your

12:22

sneakers day to day. I am not this

12:24

persona. I paid $200 for good hiking boots.

12:26

Sure. It's not necessarily that big of a

12:29

jump. Remember Tom's when Tom's were a thing?

12:31

I was never a Tom's girl. Everyone was

12:33

buying Tom's because of the social component of

12:35

it. Sometimes people will pay more for

12:38

a product if it aligns to that. That's true.

12:40

That they believe in. But

12:43

Tom's was because they were giving back to the

12:45

community. Right now, there's not that flywheel with this

12:47

company. Right. And so was Kahawa 1893 too. Now

12:49

when I think about maybe that's what they need

12:51

is a social component. Even I bought Kahawa 1893

12:53

because of the giving back to the computer

12:57

date. Right. There's not that component here, but

13:00

I do get it in terms of believing

13:02

in the founders. The power of belief is

13:04

really what you're saying. It's like going to

13:06

drive purchases. And I totally agree. But yeah,

13:08

average purchase, $170. Compared to a CAC, again,

13:10

we don't get the channels

13:14

here. I have a sense that

13:16

it's somehow related to social media, but $45 to

13:19

acquire a customer,

13:21

which I don't know, it seems kind of

13:23

high. I need your take on that though.

13:26

On something like Instagram and Facebook, $45

13:28

is that high? Yes,

13:31

I would say for Instagram and

13:33

Facebook, that is a much higher

13:35

CAC. Now if they were running

13:37

programmatic ads, so ads that show

13:39

up in TV or on streaming

13:41

services or those pre-ads that you

13:43

skip on YouTube videos, I don't

13:45

think that would necessarily be a

13:47

much higher customer acquisition cost. I

13:49

think it's just the early stages

13:51

too of this business. They're 10

13:53

months running as a business. It

13:55

takes a few months. Yeah.

13:58

And it takes a few months. You're going

14:00

to be tested. investing and experimenting. And anytime

14:02

you're introducing a new product in market, you're

14:04

going to have a higher cost per acquisition

14:06

because you're going to learn what are the

14:09

right targeting filters to put in place. Who

14:11

is your audience over time? And as you

14:13

get smarter, that cacti should go down. So

14:15

I don't think it's necessarily they're in the

14:17

worst spot for where they're at. I don't

14:20

think it's an indicator that there's a lack

14:22

of interest. I just think they need more

14:24

of that awareness and market in order to

14:26

get more sales and more conversion. And then

14:28

they'll see things kind of net out a little

14:31

bit more. Yeah. And I

14:33

think ultimately it's sort of because they

14:35

were so new to the

14:37

market that we saw the sharks

14:39

responding like they did. Because I

14:42

think their numbers are very indicative

14:44

of a company that is in

14:46

the beginning stages of being successful.

14:48

Granted, they are making sales, but

14:51

I think because of the competitive

14:53

space and the perceived lack of

14:55

traction, everything will tell if

14:57

that's actually true. All of our

14:59

sharks either went out because this is just

15:01

not their business portfolio or

15:03

because again, as a competitive

15:06

market, they need to explode

15:08

super quickly. And while Mark

15:10

did say that they should focus on D2C, which

15:13

I think they primarily are instead

15:15

of focusing into retail, which they did

15:18

talk about pivoting into. No, that would

15:20

be shoe aside. Shoe aside, all

15:23

of the sharks did go out. Womp

15:26

womp. But I do have a good update

15:28

for you, like a small good update, even though

15:30

this just happened. They have 9,000

15:32

Instagram followers post Shark Tank. So they

15:34

have had at least some Shark Tank

15:36

bunk maybe in a couple of years

15:38

with here about the actual numbers about

15:41

how many they sold post Shark Tank.

15:43

But it does seem like Shark Tank

15:45

has helped them at least build more

15:47

brand awareness. So I'm excited to see

15:49

what comes from this company. Also, just

15:51

like as a jewelry note, they were

15:53

both Boston boys and Boston will always

15:56

have a place in my

15:58

heart. I don't know about the Boston sneaker heads. scene,

16:00

but I just love it when fun things come

16:02

out of Massachusetts. And their names are Sam and

16:04

Adam. Yeah, I know. It's like so many good

16:07

things. Like, we're rooting for you Sam and Adam,

16:09

just because it's just like I'm a Massachusetts girl.

16:11

And who? You can definitely check out 1587 stinkers

16:15

online because yeah, still in business.

16:24

Production for today's episode was brought to

16:27

you by Ari D'Sarva. Editing comes from

16:29

Robert Hartwig and support from Alfred Schultz.

16:31

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Podcasts, or

16:34

wherever you subscribe to the greatest podcast

16:36

ever. That does it for me. See

16:38

you next week in the tank for

16:41

another bite. I

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