Crowned “the best shark tank pitch of all time”, Annabel Hay, founder of CLUTCH Glue is still in a Shark Tank haze, a month after being aired on television. Hay entered the tank seeking a $200,000 investment for a 10% stake in her business and left with the backing of two Sharks and $400,000. So what is CLUTCH Glue and why is it making waves in the fashion world? We spoke to Hay to find out what all the fuss is about… and spoiler alert, the fuss is very warranted indeed.
To anyone who is unfamiliar with CLUTCH Glue, what exactly is it, and who does it cater for?
CLUTCH Glue is the product you never knew you needed. A first of its kind product, CLUTCH seeks to revolutionise the way we all wear and enjoy our clothes: it can fix wardrobe malfunctions on the go, allows you to no longer tolerate mild inconveniences, and wear your clothes with confidence. CLUTCH has been coined a ‘game changer’ and a ‘fashion tape killer’, as it is an adhesive that you simply apply to your skin, stick your clothes on top of, and wash off your skin and clothes when you’re done!
This globally patented glue is a super strong, sweat resistant formula that is compatible with all fabric and skin types, won’t seep through your clothes and is a vegan formula, made in Australia of 100% recycled packaging! And the best part is – it washes off your skin and clothes in the wash when you’re done… MAGIC!
CLUTCH is an everyday handbag essential. It can be used to temporarily fix a dropped hem on the go, be placed on on bike shorts that are giving cameltoe during a hot girl walk, stuck on your pesky sockettes that keep sliding off your heels, keep necklace clasps in place on the back of your neck, and even secure plunging necklines in place. The uses are ENDLESS; there has never been a time where we have regretted having CLUTCH in our bags.
Take us back to the early days before launching CLUTCH – can you tell us a little bit about yourself, and what sparked your initial product idea?
Our journey before delivering the “the best shark tank pitch of all time” is one of the more unique scenarios you might have heard. As a construction manager with a keen interest in fashion, I was fed up with the finicky and wasteful nature of fashion tape. After taking 45 minutes to get taped into a plunging jumpsuit, and 30 wasted strips of single use plastic later, I arrived at the club only for it to all come unstuck (literally) after the first signs of sweat got to the tape.
At that moment, I asked myself “wouldn’t it be so much easier if I could just glue myself into this?!” The next day I set forth on what would become a 4 year research and development journey costing a whopping $160k of my own money to launch CLUTCH!
I was shocked to learn that there was no solution on the market that did what I needed (that is to glue myself into a dress), but I knew it was an incredible opportunity to fill a huge gap in the market and poof, CLUTCH was born!
Since launching in 2022, CLUTCH Glue is now stocked in hundreds of individual stores across 4 countries – what were you looking to get out of Shark Tank to further the business?
We’re actually now in over 1,000 stores across 4 countries, isn’t that MAD! Not bad for 1.5 years of business!
Shark Tank was an incredible opportunity to test our supply chain and make sure all the efforts we had put into scaling up the business and maximising our operational efficiency, was put to the test the right way. Excitingly, we have been able to keep up with all the momentum gained since the show, and we only hope to continue this momentum for years to come! We have some HUGE stockist announcements coming at the end of this year (hint: hello Woolies) and next year across the world (hint: hello UK!), we’re also working on our strategy to be able to successfully penetrate both the Asia and India markets.
The boost in awareness for myself as a founder is also incredibly exciting and I hope to have inspired future founders to go after their dreams!
Run us through the preparation for your Shark Tank pitch – was there months of planning involved, or was it a relatively quick process?
Thousands of hours went into that pitch. You have one opportunity to go on TV and showcase your business, so we knew we had to be overprepared in order to ace it.
We ended up hosting 4 or 5 mock shark tank nights, endearly labelled as ‘fish bowl’ nights, where we would gather ‘Shark’ like people we knew to watch our pitch, then proceed to grill us in an hour long Q&A. Although it was a massive effort and an incredibly gruelling process, we are so glad we did that because once film day came, we knew we had the answers to literally every question under the sun and felt so confident, which obviously now we know translated so well to the Sharks.
We run a very legitimate business that we are truly passionate about, and wanted to make sure we got it 100% right. There is no way of winging it, is the way to go about TV.
What kind of thoughts were running through your head as each Shark began to put forward their investment bids?
It was very surreal! We knew Jane would be interested, but the fact that Nick, Davey, and Rob were also just as excited as her, was a very welcome surprise we weren’t anticipating. They’re all such formidable entrepreneurs in their own right, we were really stuck when deciding who we should go with as they all bring such a sophisticated wealth of knowledge to the table! What you don’t see on the episode, is that we took a few minutes to silently figure out whose investment we were actually going to take. It was stressful, but we were so excited by the fact the episode was so successful!
How do you think 2022 Annabel would have reacted if you told her two years later she would make history on Shark Tank by receiving bids from all four Sharks?
The fact that I delivered “the best pitch in Shark Tank History”, and went on the show to actually receive more money than what I was initially asking for, is bonkers to me even now! 24 year old Annabel would be so proud to know the way things have turned out in such a short space of time!
I would say that also from a young age, I possessed a strong sense of self, yet faced constant criticism from peers and adults for my outspoken nature, confidence, and perceived excessive enthusiasm. These very traits, once deemed flaws and insecurities, have become my greatest strengths in founding CLUTCH. I’m grateful for staying true to myself despite the pressure to conform. Embracing your authentic self is crucial, as it’s the foundation of your unique potential and ultimate success.
What has the aftermath of Shark Tank meant for your business?
The increase in engagement and awareness from people that we otherwise wouldn’t have reached organically via socials, has been far more successful than we were expecting. The amount of respect and praise we have received (both about CLUTCH and even just the pitch) is incredibly humbling and has filled us and the business with the confidence we needed to keep committing 100% to building CLUTCH. Obviously our passion for our product is contagious, because the response to the show has been overwhelmingly positive, with rave reviews being received left right and centre about how people love our product and resonate with my story of hating fashion tape!
Where do you hope to see CLUTCH Glue in 5 years time?
CLUTCH will be available across every corner of the earth! From every convenience store, supermarket and pharmacy, CLUTCH will be there for you, when you need it most!
This year alone we have sold over 100,000 units which is the equivalent of saving 6.5 tonnes of fashion tape waste out of landfill, so in 5 years time we have ambitions to at least 20x that number, and make sure everyone has made the switch to CLUTCH!
Learn more about CLUTCH Glue below and read our review here.
