What Happened To Hip Chixs Jeans After Shark Tank?

Relying on clothing hacks to flatter your figure can be stressful, especially when it comes to jeans. Whether your problem is jeans that are too tight, too loose, or accentuate the wrong curves, we all wish that finding our perfect fit was easier. Enter premium denim brand Hip Chixs Jeans, founded by Aimee Miller and Megan Jackson-Carreker in the hopes that they could give wearers their confidence back, one pair of jeans at a time.

The Texas-born fashion founders met in college and shared a mutual passion for Texas fashion –- complete with traditional blue jeans (per Shark Tank Blog). After four years of development, these best friends founded Hip Chixs in 2011. Their jeans were designed to combat the heat and stuffiness of traditional denim, as well as provide posterior support that hugs your curves perfectly. The fashion brand appeared in Season 4 of "Shark Tank" in 2013.

Hip Chixs aimed to disrupt the denim industry with its innovative designs, which included custom detailing and a waistband that prevents slippage from the front and back. However the jeans brand wasn't very established when they appeared on the show, and Hip Chixs boasted low sales with a high pricepoint: $187 per pair. Unable to convince the Sharks of their potential, Miller and Jackson-Carreker walked out of the "Shark Tank" without a deal.

Aimee Miller and Megan Jackson-Carreker entered "Shark Tank" to land a $150,000 investment in exchange for 35% equity. The entrepreneurs wanted to expand Hip Chixs' distribution into boutiques and grow their reach through publicity (per Shark Tank Recap). While these slimming jeans seemed to be a potential best-seller, their numbers said otherwise. In the two years since its launch, Hip Chixs had only reached $12,000 in sales.

Aimee and Megan explained that they could get their high cost of production down – $68 per pair, which sold to wholesalers for $80 – if they made bigger orders. However, the Sharks were still unimpressed. When it came time to negotiate, Robert Herjavec looked to fashion businessman Daymond John for advice. John told his fellow Sharks that based on Hip Chixs' current status, it would take at least $5 million to boost it into a profitable business. Unwilling to take part in this high price tag, Herjavec, Mark Cuban, and Lori Greiner backed out.

John followed after them shortly, but not before he advised the business hopefuls. He encouraged them to try and reach a celebrity who could wear their jeans, which is the best publicity money could buy. Before Kevin O'Leary backed out, he also left Aimee and Megan with some advice: telling them that HipChixs would never see success, and they should pursue a new business venture. 

Despite their discouraging letdown on "Shark Tank," Aimee Miller and Megan Jackson-Carreker didn't give up on Hip Chixs. In 2015, they began a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to raise the needed $150,000 on their own. But after a month, Hip Chixs had barely reached $20,000 in funds. It appeared that the advice they received from Shark Lori Greiner rang true – there was a lot of competition in the premium denim space, and they needed to stand out. And as we can see from similar "Shark Tank" brands such as SkinnyShirt, the "slim-fashion" industry isn't easy to break into.

In 2016, Hip Chixs was still in business, even making an appearance on the runway during Brooklyn Fashion Week. The brand also began to receive some publicity to support sales for its three signature styles: Skinny Indigo, Straight and Narrow, and Skinny Bootie. But the small boost and lack of funding just weren't enough and Hip Chixs is now out of business.  Their website and social media pages have been disbanded. All that remains is the Hip Chixs Facebook page, which has over 2,000 followers but has not been active since 2017.