Next into the tank is apparel for the Most extreme climates [Music] Spaghetti [Music] Hi sharks I'm Dale Lewis founder of Fortress clothing I'm seeking six Hundred thousand dollars for 15 equity In my company The problem with cold weather clothing Is once you're cold you get sweaty and Cold and wet and once you're wet your Day is over Fortress has solved that problem so I Can lose the parka I can lose the hoodie I don't need a Windbreaker And this Long sleeve tee goes away you just lost A lot of weight wow you look better Thank you Fortress delivers on three promises due To our patented Innovative disruptive Technology number one you'll be warm Even if wet and number two you'll be Worn with fewer additional layers and Three an amazing Comfort Spectrum Skyler how cold is it over there in the Tank negative 112 Fahrenheit and it's Going to prove how amazing his product Is And Robert since you had the opportunity Of being in a cryo tank several years Ago we brought special samples for you
To experience them yeah but you've got To get in there let me take you back to Our samples Crank it up buddy 250 below all right You guys got it So Lori yes this is special made for It's a prototype together with our Winter I love it thank you being a Canadian I know you'll absolutely Appreciate a nice vest with our All-purpose gloves cool Barbara this is our hoodie we did this On a Kickstarter And Mark pleasure to meet you this is Our bill Parker together with our ski or Snowmobile gloves cool What are you wearing so I'm wearing our Base layer I think it looks cool but if You say it's as warm as it is look how Sleek it is this is comfortable from 70 Down to minus 10 degrees and we also Manufacture gear Robert I'm ready for You is that what Robert has on Dale the Base layer so yeah typically you wear This next to skin go like this Robert so Put them in throw them in all right you Ready I'm ready Lock them up oh my God okay hit him Let's go to 300 below So the longer the door shut the colder It gets I'm worried hit him again are You guys worried sorry Are you breathing How are your hands
[Music] Oh that's good oh God so Dale who's my Market am I trying to sell to the people That are working in extreme temperatures I mean it's not too many places on Earth That are 200 below zero right okay how Did it feel it it's freezing like my Toes are free they feel like they're Going to fall off seriously really but Really incredible the top was nothing Wow so we have a proprietary disruptive Insulation technology that is amazing All of these products all of these Products contain our installation but Let's define our Market who are we going After okay so why am I here because I Need an influencer with power and I need Your distribution channels so what have You sold so we have historically sold 3.5 million dollars uh company to date Since 2012 seven years two thought You've been doing this what did you do The last 12 months uh well 2018 we did 407 uh thousand dollars the issue is we Had all this great growth built a Reputation and oil if you'll remember Went from 80 to 100 to 140 and then boom Bust down to 30 something dollars that Was your primary Market you're trying to Sell to the industrial yes see the Problem is we have so much opportunity We could be everywhere so we were trying To be focused on oil what that did is it Made it so we couldn't stay alive if you
Want to go into full retail now what do You want to do but wait a minute how are You different from your competitors so The value proposition is that we do the Three things we claim one you can be Soaking wet and warm Ice fishing and you fall in like it's Freezing cold water yes what happens so I have a video to demonstrate that oh This is me I'm wearing our Fortress Layer and then just some basic underwear Oh no oh my God don't you do it this is Three and a half feet of ice and it Really sucks This is so horrible you'll see by my Face Is Cannot breathe that's in the water once You get out of the water within 45 Seconds you are absolutely warm I'm Curious about you though are you a Scientist what's your exactly so you'll Love this I'm a Serial entrepreneur had Three colossal failures seven years of Famine You uh excuse me Well you're so important to fix your Self-esteem like I'm serious we have Eight children and Um I was trying to cut this new business At each time My kids bet me how long it'd be before I Cried the bad times are gone you have Eight kids Dale yeah that would make me
Cry too Anyway The fourth one was this awesome success Excuse me okay and you blow up three Times Magic fourth one was magic so now the Fun part I built a telecommunications Company from zero to 33 million dollars Over nine years I'm assuming you sold This and then I had a liquidity event And retired when I was 40. and thank you It's the American dream it really is What's missing in this deal is it's Undefined where I go next I don't know Where to go with this thing I give you My six hundred thousand and I don't know How I get it back because I'm only Getting 15 of the company and you Haven't really decided what you're gonna Do I don't know if it was if you're Going after the fashion space then You're competing with all these Mega Marketers that's very hard but you Haven't done any of that stuff you're Selling direct to guys in the oil field So that's where I think I'm coming to You and saying I'm looking for the low Hanging fruit you are influencers and You have just you don't have a market to Find no right now we're going to Continue to do the industrial Workwear Together with the Outdoorsman Jill if You had patented technology did you not Think about selling the technology to
People who manufacture clothing versus Do it yourself we did and we were told No because it was an unproven technology They wanted Market validation and that Is why we created Fortress to go get Market validation here's a question I Like the style of that Catwoman thing The Baseline that looks interesting now I ski and samuritz it's the coldest Mountain in Switzerland it's about 28 Below on the top awesome and I want to Look great when I get down to the cabin All right if I just wore that I'd look Great on the mountain would not care About no no then you'd wear your outer Shell of choice why can't I just wear This the way what you're wearing to go Skiing yeah because it doesn't have a Wind stop it doesn't have the wind Stopper so think of this as insulated Thermal underwear normally you just Throw some sort of shell over it here's What's confusing for me I think the look Is good the technology sounds good but I'm still not getting how this is going To be what else is out on the market and The thought of a shell on top for me Disconnects to how cool I think the look Is because it takes away from that I Don't think I'm the right partner I'm Sorry I'm out okay I think maybe after a Little while you might come back in I think your best positioning is that You are Fortress underwear company yeah
They drop on a park you go skiing you Drop on a park you go ice fishing drop On a park it's a good layer and I think Also having all these garments is Confusing for a consumer I think it Should be one thing That applies to many Industries what's Wrong with positioning as an underwear Company that that caught my attention And we're open to that well I'm not open To it oh because it came to a good idea Barb but I yeah but it would be no Fortress long underwear business you'd Have to build so I wish I had the energy For that enthusiasm for it But sadly I am out You know Dale it's missing focus on Marketing and I I have a very hard time Parting with six hundred thousand to Test different ideas I can't go there With you I don't see a strategy I'm out You know I have to tell you I love this But the message it's so confusing you're Selling to Oil Workers then you're Jumping into water Somewhere and let me clarify yeah Dale I Can't I can't do it I can't do it I Really want you getting me excited but I Gotta tell you man you are drowning in Opportunity I know I just want to be Successful in one category that's it I Would have been happy to go along for That Niche but the best friend or too Much opportunity for me I'm at
Bill you've sold technology before Congrats on your successes when you're Trying to sell technology it has to be Clean and simple how you're Differentiated and why you're better if The bodysuit if you told me I could just Go skiing I could go running and as long As it's not windy you're going to be Completely warm and you're going to be Comfortable Right right that's something to look at But that's not what you convey to me and To their point you're bouncing around a Little bit because you're trying to say You want to do too much I think you'll Figure it out but for those Reasons I'm Out All right good luck Dale thanks Appreciate yourself do the long Underwear okay I am absolutely shocked because I Expected two or three sharks to get in On the steel I think I confused him and My bad I should have done a better job Communicating Before you go don't forget to subscribe To the Shark Tank Youtube channel and Ring the notification Bell to keep up With everything that's bubbling in the Tank