A Look At What Happened To Reviver After Shark Tank

From cigarette smoke to gym sweat, clothes have a way of telling everyone what we've been up to that day and even what we've been snacking on. To get rid of the smell, it usually takes tossing the clothes into the washer and then dryer. If you're living in a cramped apartment with neither appliance, it means heaving a week's worth of dirty laundry down to the local laundromat. It can be a hassle. Wouldn't it be much easier if you could just refresh those slightly smelly clothes instead of doing all that?

That's where Reviver Clothing Swipes come in, one of the products that hoped to win over the judges of ABC's "Shark Tank." The clothes-refreshing company was started by Ben Kusin, who was later joined by his brother Eric Kusin. After doing some marketing and selling of their own, the brothers decided it was time to see if the Sharks would be attracted to their sweet-scented product.

One day, Ben Kusin walked into a convenience store, annoyed at the smoke scent clinging to his shirt. He noticed the store had plenty of mints and refreshers for the mouth, but he was craving something similar for his clothes. That was the inspiration behind Reviver, a company started by Ben in 2012.

Ben and Eric Kusin appeared on Season 6, Episode 4 of "Shark Tank," bright-eyed and hopeful for $150,000 for a 5% stake in their refreshing start-up. To kick off their presentation, they asked Lori Greiner to be their assistant. They put on a shirt that had been "marinating" in a freezer bag of burgers and fries and then wiped the shirt down with Reviver. To all of the Sharks' surprise, Lori noted that the product did indeed make the shirt smell better.

With the question of if the product worked out of the way, some of the Sharks were curious about how much Ben and Eric already invested in their wipes. Reluctantly and after some pushing, the brothers admitted that they received a "family investment" of $2 million from their dad. Their dad just so happens to be Gary Kusin, the co-founder of the gaming retail store GameStop, and he's also an equity partner in their business (via Business Insider). In a now-famous moment, Barbara Corcoran backed out quickly after the reveal, stating that she doesn't invest in "rich kids' businesses."

Barbara Corcoran may have been looking for someone different to invest in, but the dry wipe product passed Lori Greiner's smell test. The Shark offered the Kusin brothers the $150,000 investment they were after; however, instead of 5%, she would only agree to invest for a 15% stake in the company. Although Robert Herjavec offered the same amount of money for only 10%, the Kusins decided to go for the deal with Greiner.

Since the show, Reviver has made $5 million in revenue and is currently available for purchase on Amazon (via SEOAves). Despite making a hefty profit, the business hasn't received as much hype from the brothers as it initially received during their "Shark Tank" episode. Per Gazette Review, the Reviver website is no longer functioning, signaling that it's either under maintenance or abandoned altogether. Ben and Eric Kusin have a YouTube channel named after their product, but the channel hasn't uploaded in eight years and features a small selection of videos. Likewise, their Twitter account has less than five tweets, with their last tweet from May 2022.

Reviver may have taken a backseat to the brothers' other businesses. In 2020, Ben launched VENN, a live entertainment channel for gamers and streamers. Despite a huge audience, the business would shut down in 2022, according to Input. Ben and Eric also opened Malibu Poke in Dallas, Texas with the help of their friend, restaurant owner Jon Alexis. The food was popular enough that they opened a second location in Austin.