Sonnet James Update | Shark Tank Season 10

Whitney Lundeen came to Shark Tank seeking a $350,000 cash investment from the sharks for her women’s clothing company, Sonnet James. Her clothing brand designs multi-purpose and convenient dresses. Before we take a look at the Sonnet James update, let’s do a quick recap on how Whitney and her company performed in Shark Tank Season 10.

Shark Tank Sonnet James Update

Sonnet James Update

  • Entrepreneurs: Whitney Lundeen
  • Business: Women’s Clothing
  • Ask: $350,000 for 25% equity
  • Result: $350,000 for 25% equity
  • Sharks: Sara Blakely

With 75% margins and her dresses being manufactured locally in California, Whitney was pleased to admit to the sharks that her company margins are reasonable. A single dress can be made for about $35 and her average sales price is well over $120. All of her sales are direct-to-consumer through her own website as well, a positive thing for the sharks to hear.

Let’s take a look at some of Whitney’s sales numbers for her company. In the first year the company was launched, it managed to generate $84,000 in gross sales. In the most recent year, Sonnet James generated more than $1.2 million in online gross sales.

Almost all of the sharks were moved by Whitney’s personal childhood story of overcoming abuse, but Kevin O’Leary raised some concerns about the valuation. He asked Whitney to justify the $1.4 million imputed valuation that she was asking for, but guest shark, Sara Blakely, quickly interrupted Kevin and instantly made an offer of $350,000 for 25% equity.

Whitney quickly accepted an offer that would give her and her company exactly what she was asking for when coming on Shark Tank. It’s extremely rare for a deal to be made where the entrepreneur and the company get exactly what they ask for, but this is one of those rare circumstances where Sara made an offer that matched the asking investment price.

Let’s shift the focus now to our Sonnet James update to see how the company is doing since its appearance on Shark Tank. It turns out that Whitney and Sara finalized the deal that was made on Season 10 Episode 11 of Shark Tank.

Whitney’s dresses have appeared on popular magazine covers and her sales continue to exceed more than $5 million annually. This is one of the great company success stories that has come from Shark Tank and it’s great to see Sonnet James continuing to do so well after the show. The company’s expanded catalog of products can still be found online on their official website.

You can find the other company updates from Season 10 Episode 11 here:

Don’t forget to take a look at our Season 10 products page! We’ve got more company updates from Shark Tank Season 10.