Justin Clark, one of the co-founders of RomperJack is a pretty savvy business man. His LinkedIn profile lists five businesses he’s involved with. His biggest business is Whiz Tutor, an app that matches students with local tutors. It’s a very successful business, but things slow down in the summer when school’s out. Back in the summer of 2017, Justin saw a Kickstarter that raised $353,804 and he was impressed. The company raising the funds was called RompHim; they make rompers for men. Rompers are a one-piece shirt and shorts outfit – like little kids wear.
Clark was fascinated. He looked around to see if there were other companies making these and there weren’t. So he decided he was going to start his own male romper business: RomperJack. He enlisted the help of two partners in other businesses: Wyatt Thompson – who appears in the Shark Tank with him – and Wes Dagget who does not. Together, they sourced a manufacturer, designed their rompers, built a website, set up a marketing plan and ordered their first 1200 units. They did all this in 60 days. In less than 2 years, they had over $1 million in sales.
Apparently, rompers and jumpsuits (rompers with long pants) are very popular in the gay community. They spend their marketing dollars on reaching out to them. The difference between their rompers for men and others on the market (other competitors have sprung up) is they have a better fitted look – another popular feature with the gay community. Of course straight men can wear them too. The reason the company is in the Tank is they need help managing an inventory based business. All three guys are from the digital world. They’re hoping a Shark will help with that side of the business. Do Sharks like rompers?
My Take on RomperJack
Some of the designs are kind of cool, but I wouldn’t be caught dead in one of these. It looks like grown men are wearing kiddy clothes, albeit fashionable kiddy clothes. I’m a shorts and tee shirt guy. Getting dressed up for me is a golf shirt and maybe chinos. I am not a clothes horse; I’m out.
Will Sharks Go For a Romp?
I’m thinking the only truly viable Shark for these guys is Daymond. Mark usually doesn’t go for clothing items. Mr. Wonderful may bid with some kind of royalty deal, but he won’t win. Lori isn’t likely to go for it either. Again, Peter Jones is still a wild card for me, so maybe he bids.
Daymond is who they need. He’ll like their backgrounds in digital marketing. They know their numbers down to a tee too. I think he’ll bid, but he’ll want 33.3%. They might be able to get him to 25% though with the “we’re all equal partners that way” counteroffer.
