Women’s clothing has long been deprived of pockets. This is why the young Sofia Overton created Wise Pocket Products, a line of socks and leggings that have convenient pockets inside. The youngster managed to bag a deal with Daymond John and Lori Greiner. Wise Pocket Products is now worth $0 and has gone out of business.
Sofia Overton’s Background
Sofia Overton is currently pursuing secondary education at a local school in Bentonville, Arkansas. Now 18 years old, she has been watching Shark Tank since she was six and always wanted to appear on the show but needed an idea.
Sofia was inspired to start her business at 11 years old after noticing her cousin placing her phone in her boots because her leggings didn’t have any pockets. However, she found it very uncomfortable as the phone constantly slipped down her ankle.
Founding Wise Pocket Products
At home, Overton had a big sock collection. This inspired her to develop a sock design with a built-in pocket big enough to hold phones. In 2017, the brilliant young lady launched Wise Pocket Products with $10,000 of her own money. This is a lot of money for a young kid!
While building the company, she kept social issues in mind. The Bentonville student estimated that she had at least 600 schoolmates who were homeless. So, Overton pledged to donate one pair of socks for every unit sold.
With the support of her parents, she applied for a patent and also got help from Startup Junkie and her local Chamber of Commerce. In 2018, she started an IndieGoGo campaign that raised $10,000 and earned $16,000 in sales before entering the Tank.
Shark Tank Pitch
The then 13 -year old, appeared on season 11 of Shark Tank, asking for a $30,000 investment in return for a 15% stake in her business. She needed the money to streamline production as she was only able to produce 100 units per month.
After explaining her product and who it was for, the guys behind her made a dynamic dance presentation, showing how the socks won’t discard the phones despite explosive movements.
While Kevin O’Leary and Mark Cuban were talking about why they were out, Lori Greiner and Daymond John teamed up in the background. They offered $30,000 for 33.33%, but they were impressed when Sofia countered with $35,000 for 25%.
Lori and Daymond accepted the offer. Daymond in particular was interested as one of his most successful deals was another sock-related company called Bombas.
Update After Shark Tank
The deal with Lori Greiner and Daymond John closed according to Sharktankblog.com. Despite this, the licensing deal never happened and Wise Pocket Products shut down.
The website wisepocketproducts.com, is offline and it’s available to buy on GoDaddy Auctions. Also, the company hasn’t posted on Instagram since August 2020 and fans of the shows are posting comments asking if they’re still in business.
Sofia hasn’t posted anything online to confirm why the business closed. Most likely manufacturing issues caused by the pandemic and schoolwork are to blame.
It appears highly unlikely she has plans to restart the company and is probably focused more on education. Although things didn’t go as expected, it’s always amazing to see young kids pitch on Shark Tank.
