News

March 28, 2017

Alumni of Brown School Secures $500,000 on Shark Tank

Brown School was recently able to welcome back distinguished alumni James Brooks who secured $500,000 on the popular ABC television show Shark Tank for his company that helps endangered elephants. Shark Tank Investor Daymond John made the final deal and will mentor the team.

Brooks and his business partner Nathan Coleman, both graduates of Rochester Institute of Technology, were featured in the February 24th episode of Shark Tank for their unique product. Customers can purchase a wide variety of colorful harem-style pants and clothing where 10 percent of proceeds support endangered elephants in Africa and South East Asia. https://www.theelephantpants.com/ The two started the company after taking a trip to Thailand in 2013.

In addition to RIT, Brooks graduated from Schenectady High School and Brown School. His mother, Joan Brooks, continues to work at Brown School as head of admissions. “It was an honor to come back and visit with the students. I understand they are working on some entrepreneurial endeavors and many community service activities as part of their academic studies.  It is excellent to start thinking this way and ‘walking the walk’ so young. Brown School provided me an excellent foundation to help me reach where I am today,” said Brooks.

The company is currently headquartered in Brooklyn and yielded $4.5 million dollars in sales last year. They employ 10-12 full-time and part-time contractors and work with designers in Thailand and Brooklyn.

In 2015, The Elephant Pants team filled out an application to pitch their product on Shark Tank. They made it a few rounds but were told they weren’t a good fit for the season. “There is a great lesson here in not giving up. Even though we did not qualify at the time we continued our labor-intensive work to move the company forward. When we received a call back months later that they wanted us to appear, we were thrilled. We love the work we do and feel great we are helping elephants,” said Brooks.