A clothing startup that won funding in 2021 from local nonprofit Arch Grants will appear on ABC’s TV show “Shark Tank."
No Limbits, which makes clothes for people with disabilities, will be featured in a pre-taped episode set to air at 7 p.m. Friday. "Shark Tank," which is in its 13th season, is a reality TV show that involves entrepreneurs pitching their companies to high-profile investors in hopes of making a deal.
No Limbits will be the second local startup — joining phone accessory company Flipstik — to appear on “Shark Tank" within the past two years. However, its appearance on the show comes as No Limbits’ founder Erica Cole plans to relocate her startup out of St. Louis.
The clothing items sold by No Limbits are designed for amputees, wheelchair users and those who have limited dexterity and sensory sensitivities. Cole created No Limbits out of personal need after she lost her leg in a car accident in 2018. In an interview earlier this year with St. Louis Inno, Cole said she began adapting her own clothes to make them fit better with her prosthetic leg and soon began to make similar clothing alterations for other amputees. She started the company while a student at the University of Iowa.
The initial product launched by No Limbits are pants for amputees. The pants, which include a zipper that can be used to access a prosthetic, retail on the startup’s website for $70. It also has unveiled a product line for those with sensory sensitivities, including sensory processing disorder, ADHD and autism. The company's sensory-focused clothing items include a “proprietary, patent pending, fabric” specifically meant for those with sensory sensitivities, according to its website.
Cole studied chemistry at the University of Iowa, but said she decided to put her full-time attention on No Limbits after graduation. That’s a decision she said included turning down a job at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
“Honestly, it was an excruciating decision and I would like to say that ‘oh yeah, I absolutely just knew in my heart that No Limbits was the thing to do.’ That’s just not true. But at the point I was at, (I thought) if I’m going to do this ever, I need to do it now because I was on the path of going to grad school and getting a Ph.D,” Cole said.
The decision to pursue a startup full time came as No Limbits in 2020 was chosen for the Target Incubator, an accelerator program run by retail giant Target. That program is one of several incubators in which Cole has participated since launching No Limbits. Last week, the startup was named to the Outdoor Accelerator Program, which is staged by outdoor retailer Moosejaw.
In addition to the incubator programs, Cole said her company also has received financial support as it built out its operations. No Limbits has completed a crowdfunding Kickstarter campaign, secured about $110,000 from pitch competitions and closed a $400,000 pre-seed funding round.
Cole said she decided to relocate No Limbits to St. Louis from Iowa City, Iowa, as part of an effort to place her company in a larger city with more startup activity. She considered other Midwest cities, such as Minneapolis and Chicago, and said winning a $50,000 grant from St. Louis-based startup funder Arch Grants helped her finalize her choice.
Locally, No Limbits has operated out of Spark Coworking in Ballpark Village, though it appears Cole’s tenure in St. Louis is winding down. Richmond BizSense reported earlier this month that Cole plans to relocate No Limbits to Richmond, Virginia, and establish its headquarters there later this year. In an interview with Amplitude magazine, Cole said she believes the move to Richmond will better position the company for growth.
“We moved to St. Louis because we got an Arch Grant this year, and I like the area, but the startup community still isn’t super active. There’s not a lot of engagement here," she told the publication. "And I really need to be around people who know what it’s like to have a startup. I was on a small accelerator program in Richmond [known as Lighthouse Labs] and ended up falling in love with the area. They have a really robust ecosystem out there. So that’s what’s prompting the move."
