CEO Jim Huffman, left, and COO Tyler Stelter of Seattle-based apparel maker Neat make their pitch in front of the sharks on ABC’s “Shark Tank” during an episode that aired Wednesday night. (Disney Photo / Daniel Delgado Jr.)
If Jim Huffman and Tyler Stelter were sweating during their pitch on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” their T-shirts didn’t show it. It probably helped them land a deal.
Huffman is CEO and Stelter is COO of Seattle-based Neat , which makes shirts designed to hide sweat. They survived a grilling from the Sharks on the popular reality TV series and secured an investment from Lori Greiner on Wednesday night’s episode.
Greiner agreed to invest $400,000 for a 15% stake in the company, plus 75 cents per order until she earns back her investment. Huffman said the deal is still being finalized.
“I love the product. I’m gonna be a huge customer,” Greiner, an inventor and longtime QVC personality, said on the show. “I already have 10,000 ideas of videos we’re gonna do.”
“It felt like a business knife fight,” Huffman told GeekWire on Thursday. The most intense part, he said, was negotiating with several Sharks at once while doing revenue-share math in his head.
Neat sells T-shirts and other tops lined with a patented “Sweat Maze,” a pattern of water-repelling and water-attracting zones that pulls moisture inward and spreads it across the inside of the shirt so it dries before it shows through.
The technology came out of research funded by the National Science Foundation and was originally developed for military personnel, firefighters and first responders.
“Shark Tank,” now in its 18th season on ABC, features entrepreneurs pitching their businesses to a panel of wealthy investors, known as Sharks, in hopes of landing an investment in exchange for a stake in their company. The show is based on “Dragons’ Den,” a Japanese format, and has won five Emmy Awards.
Joining Greiner on Neat’s panel were Kendra Scott, founder of the jewelry brand that bears her name; Kind snack bar founder Daniel Lubetzky; investor Kevin O’Leary; and Rashaun Williams, a venture capitalist and chief investment officer of Harbinger Sports Partners.
Rashaun Williams, a venture capitalist and the chief investment officer of Harbinger Sports Partners, holds a Neat shirt on “Shark Tank.” He passed on backing the company. (Disney Photo / Daniel Delgado Jr.)
Huffman applied for the show on a whim, filling out an online form late one night. About 10,000 companies apply each season and roughly 70 make it on air, he said producers told him.
Huffman and Stelter filmed their pitch in June at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta. Taping there in the summer made it “the ultimate test” for the shirt, said Huffman, who added that he runs hot when presenting, even without studio lights.
Huffman and Stelter came into the tank asking for $400,000 for 5% of Neat, valuing the company at $8 million. O’Leary was so put off by the valuation that he said a lightning bolt should “come through the ceiling and fry you both.” He then dropped out.
O’Leary and Williams saw Neat as a niche product, Huffman said. But Scott and Lubetzky both made offers, and Lubetzky’s interest caught the Neat team off guard. “We weren’t ready for that!” Huffman said.
When O’Leary argued that the shirts only appealed to men, Scott countered that women sweat, too. “Have you heard of a hot flash, darling? Because it’s a real thing,” she said.
Scott offered $400,000 for 20%, saying the product “has got licensing power, but your valuation is nuts.” Lubetzky offered the same amount for 25% before pulling out. Greiner then came in at 15% plus the per-order royalty, and the Neat team took her deal.
“We’ve never built an eight- or nine-figure brand, and Lori has, so bringing in someone with that experience and knowledge is extremely exciting,” Huffman said.
Huffman and Stelter began working on the brand in 2024. Huffman also runs GrowthHit , a Seattle-based growth marketing agency he founded in 2016.
Huffman came across Neat through a GrowthHit client, a sports performance brand whose team had developed the technology. Having grown up in Oklahoma and lived in Texas and New York, Huffman said he knew the pain of hot days when you can “never wear heather gray.” When the client sent him a shirt, his reaction was, “Oh my gosh, this is amazing!”
GrowthHit had been looking for a brand of its own after earlier attempts to launch products didn’t pan out, Huffman said. The agency took over Neat, with the original team continuing to handle product development while GrowthHit ran branding and marketing.
A Sweat Defender Crew T-shirt from Neat with the patented sweat maze technology on the inside. (Neat Photo)
Neat’s net sales grew more than 300% in 2025, to about $700,000, and the company is on track for $1.5 million to $2 million in sales this year, Huffman said.
Huffman credits the growth to basic growth-marketing moves. Neat positioned itself as something other than a regular cotton tee, pushed bundles over single shirts, upgraded its product photos and raised prices.
Neat’s newest shirt, the Sweat Defender Crew, sells for $59.99, with discounts for bundles. Huffman told the Sharks that each shirt costs about $11.70 to make.
The company scaled through Instagram and Facebook ads, going from about $20 a day in ad spend to roughly $2,000 a day.
Its best-known ad pops a water balloon inside a shirt to show the outside staying dry. “We need to be able to demonstrate the product in five seconds, or you’re toast,” Huffman said.
Neat is profitable and hasn’t raised venture funding, Huffman said. He said the company is on track for a 15% profit margin this year.
The company has four employees, two in Seattle and two in Portland. Its shirts are made in Vietnam and sold directly to consumers. They’re not on Amazon or in stores yet, but Huffman said “Shark Tank” could open new sales channels.
Traffic to Neat’s site jumped about 20-fold from the East Coast and Central time zones as soon as the segment aired, Huffman said. The company did more sales during the nine-minute segment than it does on a strong holiday, with a second wave when the show aired on the West Coast.
The most popular color since the show aired is the sage green Huffman and Stelter wore in the tank, which is also the color Neat has the least of in stock.
“Our main priorities right now are making sure the site doesn’t crash and that customer service can keep up,” Huffman said.
