Whatever Happened To Zipit Bedding After Shark Tank?
In Season 5, Episode 18 of "Shark Tank," viewers were introduced to sisters Hayley Carr and Jennifer MacDonald and their Zipit Bedding, a product they believed would revolutionize the bedding industry. Tired of their kids' messy, unmade beds, they came up with the idea of a comforter that attaches to the fitted sheet with a zipper — like a sleeping bag for children's beds. The idea was that, after waking up in the morning, the child could make their own bed by simply pulling the zipper back up, saving time and eliminating arguments.
It's been more than a decade since MacDonald and Carr made their impressive pitch to the Sharks. Is Zipit Bedding still in business? Is it among the ranks of "Shark Tank" products that failed? Here's everything we know about the company and how Carr and MacDonald's time on "Shark Tank" shaped their company's future.
Who are Hayley Carr and Jennifer MacDonald?
Jennifer MacDonald is a mother of three children who used to work as an advertising executive. She was the one who came up with the idea for Zipit Bedding. Her lightbulb moment came when she was hosting a sleepover at her house: The morning after, she witnessed her youngest son zip up and put away his sleeping bag, leaving the room clear and tidy. As someone who was getting sick and tired of trying to force her kids to make their beds, the efficiency of the process appealed to her. What if a child could make their bed with the same ease?
That's where her sister came in. Described on the Zipit website as "an entrepreneur and inventor-at-heart," Hayley Carr was keen to help MacDonald develop the product. "A rough sketch of a comforter attached to a fitted sheet via zippers drawn on a napkin, countless hours of hard work, a 401K invested and several prototypes later, Jennifer and Hayley were finally ready to debut their patented one-of-a-kind, innovative and time-saving product to the world," the website states.
How did the Sharks react to Zipit Bedding?
Hayley Carr and Jennifer MacDonald were chosen out of around 36,000 applicants to appear on "Shark Tank," but that was just the first hurdle — getting the Sharks to invest in their business was the endgame. Hoping to get their product into homes across America, MacDonald and Carr wanted $75,000 for a 20% equity stake in the company. The sharks were keen on the product and appeared to warm to Carr and MacDonald, but the story of Zipit so far made them question the sisters' choices.
Robert Herjavec disliked the marketing. Barbara Corcoran claimed that the business plan was incoherent. Mark Cuban (who is widely considered to be one of the best Sharks on "Shark Tank") found them inflexible. Lori Greiner agreed with Cuban that they should have been pursuing a licensing deal, saying that their insistence on DRTV commercials was likely to become a financial morass for them. The most horrified Shark in the tank was Kevin O'Leary, whose expertise is in licensing, which caused him to see their choice as a big mistake. With that, they officially had no deal and the women embarked on their own course.
Zipit Bedding had its own music video
Hayley Carr and Jennifer MacDonald went on to create a DRTV campaign as planned, which was something Lori Greiner insisted would make the company lose money. "It ended up being the opposite, and we didn't have to spend a lot to make a lot and we have been very successful," Carr said in a Harvest Growth interview. Buoyed by this, Carr and MacDonald paid for the creation of a music video, enlisting the help of Grammy-winning producer Brian Kennedy (who has worked with the likes of Rihanna, Kelly Clarkson, and the Backstreet Boys over the years).
At one point, Carr and MacDonald were pulling in as much as $3 million a year from their business. It's far from being one of the highest-grossing "Shark Tank" companies, but that's still a huge amount of money. Zipit Bedding made its way into Walmart, Target, and Bed Bath and Beyond. It was also available on Amazon for a time. The product was bolstered by appearances on "The Today Show," "The View," CNBC, and in Parenting Magazine. However, by 2022, the number of retailers had dwindled down to just Walmart and Amazon, and things weren't looking as rosy as they once were.
What became of Zipit Bedding?
Everything seemed to be going great for Hayley Carr and Jennifer MacDonald in the years following their appearance on "Shark Tank," but the 2020s seemingly saw the demise of Zipit Bedding. By summer 2022, the company's social media hadn't been updated for a year, and their socials remain dormant to this day. The Zipit Bedding website is still functional, but the product is nowhere to be found — the "where to buy" page simply states that they're "coming soon" to Amazon. Sadly, Zipit seems to be kaput.
That's a real shame, as Zipit bedding was definitely on the right track. In fact, the product seems to have inspired a manufacturing trend: Merchants from Beddy's to Meeting Story to NT Bed all offer bedding sets for kids that are bright, colorful, and easily zip up and away. Zipit Bedding had a brief time in the sun, but it looks like the creators walked so others could run. Jennifer MacDonald's LinkedIn profile still has Zipit Bedding listed as her current job, so it's always possible she and Carr are just reorganizing or figuring out a new business plan. Perhaps we'll see a new iteration of Zipit Bedding in the future, or maybe Carr and MacDonald will end up being among the contestants that returned to "Shark Tank."