The Profit - Detroit Denim Update

Tonight on The Profit, Marcus Lemonis is in Detroit, Michigan hoping to make a deal with Detroit Denim. Detroit Denim is a handmade denim apparel business started by Eric Yelsma in 2010.  Since then Eric has brought on other partners Brenna Lane and Steve Wisinski to help with the business.  Detroit Denim is struggling due to Eric's unwillingness to change the business as well as the complicated processes to make the jeans.  Marcus needs to convince them to change their ways and to expand their business to include other markets.

Let's take a look at some information related to Detroit Denim as well as what kind of deal was made on the show.

News and Links Related To The Company:

• Here is the Detroit Denim website and Facebook Page.
• Here are some preview videos of the episode from the CNBC website - Video 1, Video 2
• The website says that Eric started the company in 2010.  In 2012, Brenna Lane answered a Craigslist ad for an industrial sewer and now serves as partner and director of production and operations. In 2014 Steve Wisinski came to Detroit Denim as a customer to buy a pair of jeans, and now he is a Detroit Denim partner and director of finance. (Link)
• In an August 2016 Bloomsberg article, it said Detroit Denim planned on a women's line to launch around Thanksgiving of 2016.  I guess that never happened.
• Detroit Denim is having a viewing party for their episode of The Profit at a local brewery. (Link)
• There are five types of jeans for sale on the website, each of which retails for $250 and include free repairs for the life of the jeans.  T-shirts are $40, and they also sell accessories, cologne and body care products. (Link)
• A recent Facebook post says they have 4 new fits (slim, classic, curvy, athletic) for women's jeans. They will be revealed when the new website it launched, which is probably after the episode airs.(Link)

The Deal From The Episode Plus Post-Show Updates (this will be updated continually):

• The Deal - .  $300,000 for 51% of the business. $100,000 for building out the shop, $150,000 for working capital, and $50,000 for research and development.  The equity before Marcus was Eric 65%, Brenna 25%, and Steve 10%.  Steve was later bought out as he didn't want to be involved with the business.  Marcus bought him out for $25,000 and his ownership stake was now 56%.
• A Detroit Press article, stated the company now has 12 employees and makes 15 pairs of jeans per day.  They play to expand to a dozen or so individual boutiques across the country in 2018.
• The new website is now up (same URL) and Detroit Denim has women's jeans for $200.  There is also a refashioned section for men and women, which was a focus on the show.  They are offering 30% off of your order with code MARCUS.  
• Some of the people interviewed on the episode are listed on the Our Team portion of the website, so they were hired and are still with the company.
• Repairs for the jeans now cost money, so they got rid of the lifetime guarantee on repairs. 

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