Operation Shark Attack: Tough Apparel

Did you find Tough Apparel on Shark Tank? We hope you enjoyed our shameless pitch, check out our experience conducting operation shark attack.

So, we did a thing. Do you have any ideas?

We went fishing for sharks! But not just any sharks, and certainly not great whites (we’re not that crazy). We pitched our Signature Tough Tie on Shark Tank to try and score a celebrity investor. If you care about us, continue reading to hear our perspectives on Tough Apparel’s Operation Shark Attack.

So guys seriously, what’s it like being in the tank?

Terrifying and intimidating to say the least. We knew going in that the experience would be nerve racking. However, we quickly realized one thing: some questions are really hard, especially when you’re standing in front of such successful people. We arrived in the tank as prepared as we could’ve been, and crushed the majority of the Shark’s questions, with the exception of an SEO question… awkward.

We didn’t go into the tank looking for a particular Shark because we knew that any Shark is better than no Shark. That said, Mark Cuban made fun of our ties for being polyester. He actually compared them to a suit he wore in the 80’s which was stiff. However, modern polyester is unlike anything else and is definitely not like materials from the 80’s.

So, as a disclaimer––our ties are not stiff, and we’re sorry that we don’t sell ties that cost $300 or heaven forbid more. Tough Ties are priced fairly so everyone can wear amazing machine washable ties––hooray for equality!

Something else we found interesting was, so many of us that watch Shark Tank and develop these personas of people. For example, all the Sharks are great and very friendly, but everyone assumes Mr. Wonderful is a jerk.

But, are you ready for this? Are you sure? Are you sitting down?

Mr. Wonderful is actually really wonderful. He gets a bad rap on the show, but he was such a nice guy!

Why didn't we pitch our awesome belts?

So, as you saw on the show we pitched our ties and our socks but not our belts. You may be asking, why? Well, this episode was filmed quite a long time ago and we didn’t have belts yet. Not to mention, we originally launched as Tough Tie, that’s why you’re probably looking for Tough Tie on Shark Tank.

That said, we knew that ties wouldn’t be enough to sustain the business, so surprise! That’s why we morphed into Tough Apparel since the episode, kind of like those weird, cringey, werewolf movies. Okay, maybe it wasn’t that cringey.

What we hope everyone realizes about Tough Apparel

It’s important to know that while you saw maybe 5 or 6 minutes, we were actually in the tank for about 45 minutes. Which is totally fine, we understand they have to fit so many pitches in an episode, and an extremely talented editor that could absolutely ruin us, but it's fine. Everything’s fine.

But in all seriousness, the one thing we really hope everyone knows about us is that we’re just regular dudes. We’re both happily married dads with families, working extremely hard to give our customers products that will last.

All in all we made a great deal and have a Shark on our side. Are you on our side too? Check out all of our awesome products today. We can’t wait to help you look fresh, with our ties, socks, belts, masks, and even more to come!