



Injinji

is poised to raise the standards and status of athletics’ unsung hero -

. With this toe-tally awesome video below,

boasting Injinji’s weird and wonderful 5-toe sleeve design, you get a taste of what you can expect from the company as they not only bring Performance 2.0 to shelves, but launch an entirely new website set to go

.









and NEXT... Injinji's work GREAT with Xeroshoes and I just heard that Steven and Lena Sashen from Xeroshoes are going to be on ABC's Shark Tank on February 3rd! The show is about entrepreneurs giving their best pitch to the "Sharks" to convince them to invest in their ideas, and Sashen & Co are going to give their best shot on the Feb 3 episode!









How did you end up on the show? And how long did you pursue this opportunity?









After enough people said to us, "You guys would be perfect for Shark Tank," we decided to apply.



Getting on the show itself was pretty straightforward. If you go to



I was told that the producers read every application (I hear that they got over 30,000 for this season), but I was ready to fly to one of the live auditions they were holding. Luckily, we heard back from the producers before I had to book a ticket. Lena and I had been watching Shark Tank for the previous 2 seasons. Then we watched the first season online, and tracked down video of the UK and Canadian versions of the show, called Dragon's Den. We spent our Friday nights, after a long week of work, watching and pretending we were the entrepreneurs pitching. We'd debate about the offers (how much equity they'd give up), the asks (how much money they wanted for the equity), the deals, and we'd pause the DVR to give the answers we imagined we would give if we were on the show.After enough people said to us, "You guys would be perfect for Shark Tank," we decided to apply.Getting on the show itself was pretty straightforward. If you go to http://abc.go.com/shows/shark-tank/casting , there are instructions about how to apply for the show. When I saw that they had opened the doors for applications for Season 4, I immediately sent an email with my story of why our barefoot shoes are so great, and why we needed to be on the show.I was told that the producers read every application (I hear that they got over 30,000 for this season), but I was ready to fly to one of the live auditions they were holding. Luckily, we heard back from the producers before I had to book a ticket.





It seems you have a good business going, what/how are you pitching on the show?

What would this mean to Xeroshoes if it got the funding??





Half-jokingly, we like to say that our goal is to eliminate flip-flops from the planet. More seriously, we've heard from thousands of customers who've experienced the benefits of natural movement by wearing our sandals. We want to help more people have those experiences, and have the fun of being as close to barefoot as you can get. We also have thousands of customers who love the look of our sandals, especially when they add beads and charms or use some decorative lacing style. We want to help more people have that kind of fun, too.



Plus, since we brought Dennis Driscoll into the Xero team (Dennis co-founded Avia footwear, which grew to $500 million, and most recently was the head of Global Product Design at Crocs), we have a number of new products we want to launch.



Not surprisingly, it takes a significant amount of money to develop and produce those products and to make people aware of them so they can buy them and experience the benefits and fun they provide. We're doing well enough to bootstrap things, but we could speed up the whole process with funding.





Regardless of what the outcome may be, how much of a boost does Xeroshoes get just by being on prime time?





Call me a month after the show airs and I'll let you know!









Too cool! Anyway, stay tuned next week for the Injinji launch, and be sure to watch Steven and Lena take it to the next level on Shark Tank!





Happy Trails!





Jeff

http://barefootinclined.com





and socks!





Ok... just had to get a blog post up about some really cool stuff happening soon!!UPDATE 1-23-13: The website is up! Go to http://www.injinji.com/ right now and let me know what you think! Either comment here, or better yet, on the FB page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Barefoot-Inclined/212665608801909 I'm going to select one winner for a pair of the new 2.0s that aren't even available yet!!FIRST... you know how much I love Injinji toe socks right? Well.. check out what I just heard: INJINJI® Any Shoe Video from Injinji on Vimeo AND... on the 23rd, I'm going to post up a quick contest from which the winner will get a pair of the new 2.0 series toe socks! The only thing you'll need to do is visit the NEW website ON January 23rd (not before), and let me know which socks you think rock... easy! So stay tuned on the 23rd.I am really looking forward to seeing Steven and Lena give their pitch because they are so passionate about Xeroshoes... I wanted to ask Steven a few questions before the show, so here is my interview with him:The reason we wanted to pitch was simple: Business has been great, with over 25,000 pairs of Xero Shoes sold to people in 87 countries. But an influx of cash and skill that the Sharks bring to the table would be a powerful accelerator. Plus, simply appearing in front of over 7 million viewers could have a dramatic effect on our business.