Sarah Oliver Handbags Update | Shark Tank Season 7

Sarah Oliver started knitting bags for friends and family, but her hobby quickly grew into a business when stores starting inquiring about her bags. The bags are now created by a group of seniors who enjoy turning their hobbies into extra cash. Will the sharks see the value in this social bag company on Shark Tank Season 7? Find out in our Sarah Oliver Handbags update.

Shark Tank Sarah Oliver Handbags Update

Sarah Oliver Handbags Update

  • Entrepreneur: Sarah Oliver
  • Business: Knitted handbags and accessories
  • Ask: $250,000 for 20% equity
  • Result: $250,000 for 30% equity
  • Shark: Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, and Kevin O’Leary

Sarah Oliver’s pitch began with an at-home look at her knitted handbag business, Sarah Oliver Handbags. We got to meet the hands behind these bags, a group of seniors that called themselves the Purlettes +1 (the +1 was Hector, the only male Purlette). Sarah wanted to bring more value to her group of helpers, which is why she needs the money. 

During her pitch, she explained that her handbags had meaning. The Purlettes +1 were thrilled to be making the bags. She paid them $17 each per bag, reinforcing the idea that her business wasn’t a charity. Kevin O’Leary wanted to know if she was running a sweatshop for seniors at those prices. 

With labor and other manufacturing processes included, each bag was about $47 to make. Sarah sold them for between $250 and $550 depending on the size and accessories. In the year before filming, she had $300,000 in sales. 

Lori Greiner loved that Sarah was giving the eldelry value. She offered $250,000 for 25%, but wanted the rest of the sharks to jump in on the deal. Robert Herjavec was in with Lori, but Kevin wanted to know about the numbers. Sarah told him about the retirement communities she had lined up to work with. 

Unfortunately, Lori’s idea of splitting the equity five ways came to an end quickly. Barbara Corcoran and Mark Cuban weren’t interested in investing. Kevin wanted to re-negotiate the deal. He was okay with the $250,000, but wanted 30% equity – 10% each for him, Lori, and Robert. Sarah accepts! Let’s take a look at our Sarah Oliver Handbags update to discover how the company is doing now. 

While researching for our Sarah Oliver Handbags update, we encountered some distressing news. While the products gained such popularity that their website crashed when the episode aired, the company shut down in 2017.

The US Department of Labor told Sarah that she couldn’t pay per item. She was forced to close after they told her that her business practices were illegal. This will be our final Sarah Oliver Handbags update.

For more company updates from the products featured on Season 7 Episode 10, look no further:

For more on companies and products, check out our Season 7 Products Page for more company updates. 

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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!