Here's What Went Down With Rareform Bags After Shark Tank

Season 8 of "Shark Tank" gave a platform to two California-born brothers hoping to improve the environment one billboard at a time. Alec and Aric Avedissian presented their company Rareform, which upcycles discarded billboards into fashionable bags, to the sharks and was met with skepticism as most of them dropped out early. Founded in 2013, Alec told Forbes that he came up with the idea for Rareform while traveling in El Salvador when he noticed people using billboard vinyl as roofing. This material is used for billboards due to its durability and weather resistance, and according to Forbes, isn't traditionally recyclable.

With the help of brother Aric, the siblings came up with Rareform, with its first product being a colorful surfboard bag using billboard vinyl hoping to add something unique to a market the brothers said "lacked variety." The company now reuses over 80% of the billboards seen in major U.S. cities and highways, according to the company website.

Rareform went from creating surf bags to producing unique totes, backpacks, pouches, and more reusing discarded billboard vinyl with each product being one of a kind. During their Season 8 appearance on Shark Tank, Alec and Aric Avedissian claimed they had sold $1.1 million worth of products in three years, but admitted Rareform took a loss the year before appearing on the reality show, according to the blog Shark Tank Recap. The brothers asked for a $300,000 investment in exchange for 10% equity in the company.

Most of the sharks dropped out, including Mark Cuban, who said it was difficult for Rareform to tell its story to consumers and he expressed concern about scale. Lori Greiner added that duplicating products would be difficult. It would be Kevin O'Leary that would decide to take a bite, but with certain conditions. O'Leary countered Alec and Aric's pitch offering $300,000 as a 36-month loan at 8% interest and 10% equity. Though the pair tried to counter with a straight equity deal, they would ultimately take O'Leary's offer.

The final deal Rareform received following its Shark Tank appearance was a $150,000 loan for a 5% stake in the company, which continued to grow following its appearance on the reality show. Aric Avedissian told the Ventura County Star, "Within the first three hours of the show airing, we beat the last two months of our online sales."

According to the company website, Rareform repurposes 2,000 tons of billboards and has over 50,000 bags in its Warehouse and online with each product being unique. The company makes totes, sling bags, patchwork pouches, toiletry bags, notebooks, duffles, bookbags, and even coolers. With the popularity of its products, it has worked with several big-name companies including, Delta, Nike, Disney, Patron, SXSW, and more.

Its Instagram page, which has over 100K followers, showed that Rareform partnered with singer Jason Mraz and had also created Barbie-inspired bags when the "Barbie" movie came out.