According to CNBC, twin sisters Taylor Capuano and Casey Sarai each invested $5,000 from personal savings in 2022 to launch Cakes Body as a side hustle, creating silicone nipple covers to prevent chafing and visible bra lines. The company reached $1 million in revenue in its first full year and exploded to approximately $95 million in net sales for the fiscal year ending June 2024, representing nearly 100x growth in just three years. Their December 2023 appearance on ABC’s “Shark Tank” resulted in a $300,000 investment from Emma Grede for 10% equity, valuing the company at $3 million, and helped them amass nearly half a million social media followers. The sisters initially bootstrapped the business and have been profitable since 2022, with Capuano serving as chief creative officer and Sarai as CEO. This remarkable journey from modest beginnings to nine-figure revenue demonstrates how identifying simple pain points can create massive market opportunities.
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The Intimate Apparel Market Transformation
The explosive growth of Cakes Body represents a fundamental shift in how consumers approach intimate apparel and body solutions. Traditional lingerie and undergarment companies have historically focused on aesthetics over functionality, often creating products that prioritize appearance over comfort. Cakes Body identified a critical gap in the market: women needed practical solutions for everyday wardrobe challenges that mainstream brands were ignoring. Their success reveals how addressing specific, unglamorous pain points—like chafing, visible bra lines, and uncomfortable nipple covers—can create billion-dollar opportunities in markets that established players considered mature or saturated. The company’s focus on silicone technology and “grippy” functionality represents an engineering approach to intimate apparel that traditional manufacturers have been slow to adopt.
The Social Media Distribution Revolution
Cakes Body’s rapid scaling to nearly 500,000 social media followers demonstrates how modern brands can bypass traditional retail channels and connect directly with consumers. Unlike legacy intimate apparel brands that relied on department store placements and expensive advertising campaigns, Cakes Body leveraged TikTok and Instagram to showcase real-world solutions to common wardrobe problems. This direct-to-consumer approach allowed them to build brand loyalty and gather immediate customer feedback while maintaining significantly higher profit margins than competitors dependent on wholesale relationships. The viral nature of their product demonstrations—showing before-and-after transformations with different clothing types—created organic reach that traditional advertising could never match, proving that in today’s market, compelling product demonstrations can outperform multi-million dollar marketing budgets.
Competitive Landscape Reshuffling
The $95 million in annual sales achieved by Cakes Body will inevitably force established players like Victoria’s Secret, Skims, and traditional lingerie manufacturers to reevaluate their product strategies. These companies have historically focused on fashion-forward designs and celebrity endorsements, often overlooking the practical functionality that everyday consumers actually need. Cakes Body’s success proves there’s substantial market demand for specialized solutions rather than one-size-fits-all approaches to intimate apparel. Established brands now face pressure to either develop competing products or acquire emerging players in this space, particularly as independent reviews confirm the superior performance of specialized silicone solutions over traditional alternatives. The intimate apparel market is undergoing a segmentation where functionality-focused brands may capture significant market share from fashion-oriented incumbents.
The Bootstrapping Advantage in Modern Entrepreneurship
Cakes Body’s journey from $10,000 personal investment to profitability within their first year challenges conventional startup wisdom that requires massive venture capital infusion for rapid growth. Their bootstrapped approach allowed them to maintain control, focus on product-market fit, and build a sustainable business model before seeking outside investment. The $300,000 Shark Tank deal with Emma Grede came after they had already proven their business model and achieved significant traction, positioning them for favorable terms rather than the desperate fundraising that often characterizes early-stage companies. This path demonstrates how modern entrepreneurs can leverage direct-to-consumer channels and social media to validate concepts and achieve scale with minimal capital, fundamentally changing the risk-reward calculus for consumer product startups.
Market Expansion and Sustainability Challenges
While Cakes Body’s current success is impressive, the company faces critical challenges in maintaining momentum and expanding their market position. The intimate apparel solutions space is becoming increasingly crowded, with both startups and established brands launching similar products. Their reliance on silicone materials presents both environmental concerns and supply chain vulnerabilities that will need addressing as they scale. Furthermore, the transition from a viral product to an enduring brand requires developing additional product lines and maintaining the quality that drove their initial success. The company’s ability to innovate beyond their core nipple covers while preserving their direct consumer connection will determine whether they become a temporary phenomenon or establish themselves as a lasting force in the intimate apparel industry.
