Freshly Picked Baby Shoes | Shark Tank Season 5
Two years ago, Susan Petersen started her leather baby moccasin business from literal scraps, and it has grown beyond her wildest dreams. Will she earn a deal on
Shark Tank Update
- Entrepreneurs: Susan Petersen
- Business: Baby shoes
- Ask: $150,000 in exchange for 10% equity
- Result: $150,000 in exchange for 25% equity
- Sharks: Daymond John
Susan brought her baby moccasin business called Freshly Picked, to the tank. She shared that she bought a bag of leather scrap material for $1 at a yard sale, and decided to make her baby son a pair of moccasins from it. She whipped up several more pairs with the rest of the scraps and put them on her Etsy site for $20, where they sold out. When she went to a fabric store to get another piece of leather, she discovered that it was super expensive– $200 for the piece she wanted!
Made in the USA or Imported. Nylon lining. Magnetic closure. Hand Wash Only. Features 10 pockets, a spacious central compartment for larger items, easy access magnetic front flap, a grab-and-go top handle and an electronics sleeve.
Susan didn’t have $200 and she didn’t know anyone else who did. Her brother worked as a window installer at the time, and Susan begged him to hang on to all the discarded windows for the summer. Once a sufficient amount had piled up, she single-handedly broke every piece of glass from all the window frames. She then gathered the metal frames and hauled them to a metal scrapyard, where they paid her $200 for the scraps.
Susan took the money and bought that big piece of leather, and sewed more moccasins for her Etsy shop. Two years before her
By the time she appeared on
Freshly Picked was adding 1,500 new Instagram followers per week, with 10% of those Instagram followers converting into sales. The shoes sold exclusively online, and half of her customers came back for repeat purchases. Based on her social media following, Susan projected her next-year sales to be in the $2-$3-million range.
Mark Cuban told Susan that her rags to riches story personified the American dream, but he didn’t know much about shoes, so he was out. Robert Herjavec agreed with Mark, and he was out. Lori Greiner said she thought Susan would do better on her own without her help, so she was out too.
Kevin O’Leary had an offer for Susan, as long as Daymond John would bring his clothing experience to the deal. Kevin offered $75,000 with no equity, but a royalty of 7% per unit sold until the $75,000 was repaid. Upon repayment, it would then drop to 5% per unit sold. He wanted Daymond to offer the same, only, Daymond wasn’t interested– he had an offer of his own.
Daymond proposed $150,000 in exchange for 25%. Susan asked Daymond to bring his equity down to 20%, but Daymond wanted to keep it at 25%, saying his equity had more to do with the value of his time than the value of her company.
Susan accepted Daymond’s offer, and, on camera, Freshly Picked got a deal. However, after the show aired, Daymond attempted to renegotiate the terms of the deal, and it fell apart. Susan moved on without a shark investor. What happened next for her company? Keep reading our Freshly Picked update to find out!
We have great news to report in our Freshly Picked update. In addition to moccasins and other footwear, the Freshly Picked website now offers a wide variety of products. Products are also available on Amazon. In the years following the 2014
Would you like to learn about the other companies featured on Season 5 Episode 15? Follow the links below for our other company updates from the episode.
For even more on companies and products, be sure to stop by our Season 5 Products Page!
Andrew Smith is the founder and owner of Shark Tank Recap. He is a longtime Shark Tank fan that has been watching it for years and has seen every episode multiple times. His friends know him as the Shark Tank expert, because he can answer any question about the show! His favorite Shark Tank products are Bertello's pizza oven and Bug Bite Thing!
