Would you buy a pair of pants that are a) covered in brightly colored elephants and b) help save actual elephants? Schenectady native James Brooks has started a company with just that premise, and it’s doing pretty well!
James Brooks, a Schenectady High School graduate, secured $500,000 in Shark Tank funding for his forward-thinking, Brooklyn-based company The Elephant Pants during an episode that aired at the end of February.
If you’re in your late teens to early thirties, you may have seen advertisements for The Elephant Pants come across your Facebook feed in the past several years (full disclosure: I’ve owned two pairs for about a year and a half now).
The harem-style pants feature bright, bold prints (often elephants) and 10% of the company’s profits go directly to the International Elephant Foundation to help with the organization’s efforts to protect elephants from poaching, disease, and other threats.
In other words, this clothing line is the perfect pitch for millennials: pajama-like, socially-conscious, fun pants, tops, dresses, rompers, and more for kids, women, and men.
The Shark Tank judges agreed and FUBU clothing founder Daymond John will be making the $500,000 investment for a 17.5% stake in the company.
Brooks told the Daily Gazette, “We were really excited to land the deal with [John] because he fits so well with our industry; he’s one of the captains of the clothing industry… We learned during the pitch that he’s a really big elephant lover and fan of elephants. That was just a match made in heaven.”
Investment aside, the company’s exposure on Shark Tank has already had a major impact with traffic and sales on the site spiking during the episode’s air time.
Sources:
Daily Gazette: “Schenectady native scores big on Shark Tank”
