The first thing that everyone notices in your outfit is your shoes. A clean and shiny pair of shoes can make anyone zero in on them, making a great impression on the wearer of those shoes. However, you can never keep the midsoles of your shoes clean all the time, even if you tiptoe around rain puddles or dirty footpaths.
This is why entrepreneurs Chris Pavlica and Kevin Consolo designed a product, Sneakeraser that helps clean your sneakers anytime, anywhere.
What Do They Make?
Sneakeraser is a unique sponge with a dual side that is specifically modeled to clean your shoes efficiently. You need to tear open the package, take the sponge out, use its white side to rub away the dirt, scruff, and other marks from your shoes, and then flip it to the other side and wipe it clean.
What Makes Them Unique?
The sponge is pre-moistened, allowing you to touch up or clean your sneakers anywhere you go. Sneakeraser works with all kinds of shoes, sneakers, casual shoes, and sports cleats, and they can be carried easily in your bag or purse and carried anywhere.
Are They Still an Active Company?
Sneakeraser is doing great business with its active website and social media accounts. The brand has received tons of positive reviews on Amazon as well.
How Did the Shark Tank Pitch Go?
Chris Pavlica and Kevin Consolo came to Shark Tank seeking $200K for 8% stakes in their business.
They explained their product model to the Sharks. Sneakeraser is double-sided premoistened sponges that come in small packaging. They allow you to clean off the dirt or scruff marks from your shoes anywhere, easily and effectively.
Kevin asked them how many pairs of shoes can use one Sneakeraser sponge, and they responded that it depends on the particular types of shoes they are cleaning with it. The orange side of the sponge helps to wipe away the shavings of dirt left behind after cleaning with the white side, just like a pencil rubber would make.
The Sharks were impressed that the product works as effectively as the pitch describes.
Kevin Consolo explained that their product tests had gone well, and they recently launched their product in 200 stores nationwide. Their products were sold at Walmart as well.
Walmart tested their product for four to five months, and Chris revealed that as new entrepreneurs, they didn’t have any previous experience and didn’t know how to bring a product to market. Chris revealed that he sold his house to invest money in the business, and they have an equity line of credit worth $300,000 that they used to finance those orders.
The duo revealed that they were debt free as of last week and received a round of applause from all of the Sharks. They made $202,000 in 2019 through their sales, and year to date, they were over $1.1 million in sales.
They had five patents pending across their line of products, and the brand had knocked themselves off with another product, which was quite different from the pre-moistened sponge. The “Just Add Water” pack needed to be soaked with water before using them, and they had already sold 2.2 million units of that product.
Kevin was impressed with both the products since they had terrific sales. He didn’t, however, like the idea that they were only 12% digital, where the company should have had 50% direct-to-consumer sales.
He offered them $200K for 15% equity. The duo responded that the equity percentage was quite higher than what they were expecting.
Alex asked them to explain what exactly they needed a Shark for. Chris replied that having this investment will help them take their cost down and increase their profit margins. They were already killing it with their golf erasers and wanted to launch and promote other products.
Barbara said she was excited about the product until they started talking about all the new things they were planning to sell besides Sneakeraser, and inventors never really appealed to her.
On the other hand, Lori was very impressed with the innovative mindset of the two entrepreneurs and said that she was interested in making an offer in collaboration with Alex.
Lori offered $200,000 for 20% equity. Alex explained that they needed visibility and instant credibility for their product, and Lori and himself could help them achieve that. He said they would get the product in 500 gyms starting day 1, and Lori would help them with retailing in sporting goods stores.
Mark offered them $200,000 for 12% equity. Chris asked Mark to bring his offer to $300,000 for 10% equity. Mark refused straightaway and went out.
Kevin kept asking them to decide between his and Lori’s offer, and Chris asked Lori and Alex to come down with the equity percentage. Alex refused and said that he was about to take the offer back from the table. The duo accepted his offer instantly and sealed the deal with Lori and Alex.
Our Review of Sneakeraser
The midsoles are efficiently cleaned with Sneakeraser, and the results are phenomenal. The sponge works even better than fabric cleaners or other liquid shoe cleaners available on the market.
Pros of Sneakeraser
- The “Just add water” Sneakeraser can be reused easily
- Sneakeraser are easy to carry in your bag without worrying about spillage
- Shoes are easy to clean with a Sneakeraser as compared to soap and water.
Cons of Sneakeraser
- One pad of pre-moistened sponge can be effectively used for just one pair of really dirty shoes
- The sponge requires very hard scrubbing to get the scruffs off the shoes.
Who Is Sneakeraser For?
Sneakeraser comes in handy when you are rushing to your meeting and, at the last moment, realize that you forgot to clean your shoes. Or, if you are dressed nicely from head to toe for dinner with a special someone, scruff your shiny shoe on a dirty sidewalk and stain it at the last moment. Sneakeraser is perfect for cleaning and touching up your shoes without worrying about such last-moment disasters.
Are There Any Alternatives?
- Clean Magic Eraser Original Cleaning Pads.
Our Final Thoughts
What Chris and Kevin needed was better advertisement and marketing for their product. The partnership with Lori would help them gather a great online presence, and Alex would help ensure their product is available in lots of brick-and-mortar locations.
