Like many ideas that take off on “Shark Tank,” Silverman and Kinoshita promised to scale quickly and keep costs low by producing in China, where their $399 Plufls could be made for $140. By 2023, Plufl had logged $1 million in sales. Heading into this year, it was preparing to add up to $8 million in retail business.
But a year of steep tariffs and turbulent trade negotiations challenged that formula, sending Silverman and Kinoshita — and many other former “Shark Tank” contestants — scrambling to rethink their supply chains.
“This year was supposed to be the year of retail. Unfortunately, things kind of took a turn with the tariffs,” Kinoshita said on the DTC podcast this summer. “That’s just the nature of when you manufacture something overseas. You don’t fully control your supply chain, you don’t fully control your costs. It’s not expected, but it’s part of the game.”