GoGo Gear

GoGo Gear, a Los Angeles based maker of protective, armored, abrasion resistant riding gear and accessories for men and women, scoots into the Shark Tank this Friday. According to the GoGo Gear website, GoGo Gear creator, Arlene Battishill, was recently selected as one of the 100 Top Influencers in the LA Fashion Industry by the Fashion Group International.

Originally, GoGo Gear was designed for women riders of scooters and motorcycles. The idea was to bring fashion and function together in the form of protective outerwear for riding.  The GoGo Gear designers wanted to have a jacket that would protect a rider in a fall, but still look as chic as an Armani dress. They expanded into men’s jackets and men and women’s Kevlar jeans and they even sell American Made CSC Scooters on the site.

Rob Confesses to GoGo Gear -Rides Scooter

Sales of scooters and motorcycles dipped from a peak in 2008 when gas topped $4 a gallon.  I confess to buying a scooter in 2008- I ride it around town quite a bit in the nice weather; it’s great fun and pulling up to the gas pump and asking for $3 worth of gas is a hoot.  The US motorbike (scooters and motorcycles) market is a $20+ billion a year market, with well over a million new vehicles sold each year (and that doesn’t include ATVs). The global market is even bigger. The one glitch I see is female riders only make up 10% of the new purchase market and only 27% of all motorbikes in the USA are registered to women- that probably explains the move towards men’s jackets, jeans, and accessories.

I can see some of the Sharks balking on this one, just because of the female rider demographic. This is the type of deal that Daymond John might bite on though. GoGo Gear could be a global brand- the scooter market is HUGE in Europe and Asia, which would mean an exponentially larger group of potential customers. Female passengers on motorbikes ride on the back of roughly 50% of the bikes owned by men, so there is still a lot of demand for female riding apparel.

I always look at websites when I write these previews, and the GoGo Gear site is undergoing a bit of an upgrade as of this writing. Clicking out to their new shop brings you to an error page that states an ecommerce shop hosted by Big Commerce, an Interspire company, is not activated yet. Interspire sets up ecommerce solutions for Fortune 500 companies; they aren’t a rinky dink outfit and that makes me think some big time Shark Tank money is behind the pending ecommerce platform switch.

I also saw a comment on the GoGo Gear Facebook page that hints of a spoiler.  In one comment, GoGo Gear says, “it could be that they’re not showing the preview of us because of some of the “reveals” that occur… we’ll see next week!”

Not that my prediction record is anything to be proud of, but I am predicting GoGo Gear gets a deal.