When a Shark Tank casting director called Athena Kasvikis to bring her company Behave Bras on the show, she thought it was a prank. But instead of hanging up, Kasvikis started giving her a virtual bra fitting.
“I figured women need help. This is my job. Let’s do that,” said Kasvikis, who struggled most of her life to find comfortable, supportive bras in her size.
The interaction sold the casting director on Behave Bras, an Attleboro-based company that makes wire-free lingerie for larger busts, offering DD through I cups.
“At the end of it, she was like, ‘Oh my god, Shark Tank would love you,’” Kasvikis told BostInno. “I was like, okay, that sounds cool. Do you know how to get in touch with those guys?'"
"Honey," the casting director said, "this is the first step."
One year later, Kasvikis appeared on the March 11 episode of Shark Tank pitching Behave Bras to Kevin O’Leary, Lori Greiner, Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran and Daymond John. Kasvikis went in asking for $150,000 for 15% of her company, and walked away with a deal that surprised everyone, including the Sharks.
Kasvikis started Behave Bras to sell the products she’d always wanted to see in stores. She developed large breasts at a young age and said wearing incorrectly sized and unsupportive bras left her with back, neck and shoulder pain. As a young athlete, she would wear multiple sports bras at a time.
“I tell women all the time, it’s not your body that’s the problem, it’s what you’re wearing,” Kasvikis said.
She decided to take her experience managing brands for Procter & Gamble and working at startups to solve this problem that plagued her and other women.
Kasvikis began developing her first bra in 2017. Behave Bras’ unique feature is stretchy fabric pieces inside each cup called Stayz. The fabric keeps breasts supported when standing and in place when the wearer is lying down, which Kasvikis said prevents skin wrinkling and sweating between the breasts. The entire garment is protected under a utility patent.
After participating in MassChallenge in 2018, Kasvikis incorporated Behave Bras in 2019 and started selling products from its website in March 2020.
Behave Bras’ products, including bras starting at DD cups and matching panties, are serving a large market. The average bra size in the U.S. is 34DD.
When the Shark Tank episode was filmed in September, Behave Bras had $110,000 in sales over 18 months and an 87% profit margin on the bras. Each bra costs $75. The company’s product return rate was 12%.
From the viewer’s perspective, Behave Bras’ deal came on quickly. After the Sharks asked a few questions, O’Leary stepped in to offer $150,000 for 20%.
In the background, a surprised Corcoran said, “Wow, that’s a quick deal for him. Amazing”
Kasvikis said there was a lot of interest in the room, but even she was surprised by the offer and who it came from.
“Mr. Wonderful had been kind of looking around for a couple of minutes checking everybody out, and I think we had a lot of interest. We’ll just put it that they cut some things out, but we had a lot of interest,” she said. “And I think he was like, ‘Okay, how do I grab this one for myself.’”
Kasvikis briefly tried countering for 17%, but ultimately accepted O’Leary’s offer after the other Sharks spoke up in favor of the deal.
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For Kasvikis, the work is just beginning. Interest in Behave Bras has skyrocketed. She, her family and several part-time employees are still working through more than 2,000 emails and managing an 8,000-person product waitlist.
She is also still finalizing her deal with O’Leary. Kasvikis said they’re exploring a different structure that would allow her to retain more equity for future growth.
For now, Kasvikis’ priority is responding to each woman who contacted Behave Bras. She knows how it feels to finally find a product like this after years of searching, and she wants to make sure each person finds the perfect fit.
