Erica Cole, owner of No Limbits adaptive apparel, appears on ABC's "Shark Tank" on Friday, April 1. (Photo by Christopher Willard/ABC courtesy No Limbits)
Erica Cole, 26, couldn’t have imagined that a 2018 car accident that resulted in the amputation of one of her legs would lead her to a full-time business creating adaptive apparel for adult amputees. Disheartened by the style (or lack thereof) of most adaptive clothing on the market and the poor durability of standard clothing lines when worn over a prosthetic, she started making alterations to her own wardrobe that suited her and simplified the process of getting dressed. The result is her new business, No Limbits, which a line of functional and stylish jeans.
After Cole launched a Kickstarter campaign a year ago, a producer of ABC’s “Shark Tank,” the reality show where entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to prominent investors, took notice and invited Cole to be on the show, airing tonight at 8 p.m.
“What I remember going through my mind was, ‘This is the biggest moment, I think, until I get married,’ ” Cole says, laughing. “The day I’m born, the day I go film ‘Shark Tank’ and the day I get married are probably the three milestone moments of my life.”
No Limbits adaptive apparel is designed with function and style in mind for those living with a disability. (Photo courtesy No Limbits)
While she acknowledges the excitement of her television appearance, getting to this point with her startup has been a long journey. Upon graduating from The University of Iowa with a degree in chemistry in 2019, she had a difficult decision to make. She had a job offer from Los Alamos National Laboratory, which up until her car accident and subsequent amputation had been her dream job. At the same time, she received an offer from Target Incubator, a program assisting the growth of startups. Knowing she couldn’t do both, she took the risk and accepted the latter.
“There was just something about No Limbits that I thought I would regret if I didn’t pursue. I was like, ‘If we’re in Target Incubator, there’s something here,’ so did that, and honestly never really looked back. I’m enjoying pretty much every minute of [the business],” Cole says.
Establishing the business then became her top priority, working with a series of incubators and entering pitch competitions, even participating in a cohort last fall with Richmond-based Lighthouse Labs, a nationally recognized startup accelerator. That connection brought her to Richmond, where upon visiting she was impressed by the startup resources available, the city's proximity to other locations such as Washington, D.C., and the community spirit. This fall, Cole is planning to move to Scott’s Addition and relocate her operations to the 1717 Innovation Center, a collaborative workspace focused on startup growth located at 1717 E. Cary St. She’s also planning to hire a few more employees immediately upon her relocation to Richmond with the goal of increasing another couple of positions the year after.
“I’m hoping to kind of fill up that space,” she says about her 1717 Innovation Center office.
While she can’t share if she lands a shark tonight, she says the experience was exciting, even getting the movie star treatment with a team of stylists working to get her camera ready prior to filming. Cole laughs as she says the most nerve-wracking part wasn’t coming face to face with the sharks (Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Kevin O’Leary and guest judge Emma Grede), it was worrying about tripping on set.
“[The producers] take you into the room, and they show you where you’re going to stand. The sharks are not there, but they show you where you’re going to stand, and they show you your display and make sure everything is displayed the way you want it, and then they’re like, ‘OK, so we’re going to practice you walking out and get the pacing right,’ and I kept looking down because I was just so scared that I was gonna trip,” Cole says. “They probably had their head in their hands like, ‘Oh my god, this girl can’t even walk straight.’ ”
Upon successfully entering the room during filming, she says she realized that, though she’d seen the sharks on TV, once she was in front of them, they were human like everyone else, and the process felt similar to investor meetings she’d already experienced — “though a little bit faster, maybe a little bit more intense,” she admits.
Regardless of tonight’s outcome, No Limbits is currently expanding to feature a line of sensory-friendly apparel for adults with elevated sensory sensitivity, which can make more traditional clothing uncomfortable. There’s also a new line of wheelchair jean styles being added this fall, for which Cole received numerous requests via her Kickstarter campaign. Also this fall, No Limbits will begin offering men's and women's khakis for amputees along with expanding the size ranges for men and a new cut of women’s jeans. Cole says they’re also working on a new line of limited-dexterity apparel that will be offered sometime early next year. In the future, she’s hoping to partner with some retail outlets to sell her apparel.
No Limbits will also be appearing at New York Fashion Week this fall. Cole already has some fashion show experience after earning a spotlight at Los Angeles Fashion Week’s Runway of Dreams show in March, sharing the runway with recognizable brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Zappos and Kohl’s.
As for the goal of No Limbits, Cole says, “It’s to be a place where anyone can come no matter their physical challenge and find something that works for them that also represents their style. We want to be able to have our punk rock queen over here and our cowboy over there and both be able to find something that works for them if they’re experiencing a disability, and that’s the ultimate mission.”
Catch Erica Cole on ABC’s “Shark Tank” tonight, Friday, April 1, at 8 p.m.
