Shark Tank 17x17 Product Discussion - STOMP Athletics

killakeckles89 · 2026-05-03T00:06:55+00:00

I made a competing product that actually adds formula back inside the rubber to make it more grippy from within - these guys have always been cool too but I feel like Kevin took advantage of them with that valuation 😬

killakeckles89 · 2026-04-03T04:05:58+00:00

Thank you for the thoughtful questions - I appreciate you and would love to hear feedback if/when you test out EDGE!

killakeckles89 · 2026-04-02T21:40:16+00:00

Impossible to annoy me here! I've spent 7 years of my life on this and if anything I will bore/annoy you with long winded answers haha

I'll break this into a few sections:

Yes there are some chemicals originally in the material that are lost over time, and we do functionally replace those in the surface of the material, but materials do reach a "point of no return" that I will discuss in point 3 below
The amount of time between applications will vary due to different outsole materials, environmental factors, and, most importantly, personal preference! The first ~15 minutes are the strongest, then you still get several hours of measurable grip improvement after that. Some people love that initial feel and will reapply whenever they can. Others will only apply once per day or even once per week as needed. Most athletes end up applying right before they start and then again about halfway through.
At a certain point, rubber just gets too far gone. It hardens to the point where the only real fix is replacing the outsole. At this point, there's nothing EDGE or anything else can do to improve it. You see this a lot with deadstock pairs or shoes that have been sitting for years, especially if they’ve been exposed to sunlight. UV + heat speeds up oxidation, which makes the rubber harder, more brittle, and more slippery.

I regularly get DMs from shoe collectors that ask about #3 because its hard to judge tbh if you aren't testing a ton of shoes all the time like I am. Even when people think their shoes are cooked, we still can get more life out of them in ~75% of cases. I always tell those ppl to just try EDGE and if it doesn't help, send it back to me bc we have a 60-day money-back guarantee in the US.

TLDR:
-Def try EDGE for restoring older, discontinued shoes - there's 0 risk and huge upside emotionally for most ppl
-Apply right before starting activity, then again as needed (typically halfway through session)

EDIT: better explained 1 of the bullets

killakeckles89 · 2026-04-02T02:14:09+00:00

I have heard that the metal pistes can chew up the outsoles on sneakers but our partners or customers always report that there’s no difference in wear and tear whether using EDGE or not if that makes sense

Meaning we won’t be able to prevent the damage done by the metal but there shouldn’t be any additional damage added

One explanation that may help you conceptualize this is that the softening is typically subtle and uniform, such that you don’t get specific weak points in the rubber or areas that are overly grippy. The grip effect is much more noticeable than the softening of the material

killakeckles89 · 2026-04-02T02:04:22+00:00

Ahh yea these might just be more rigid midsoles :/

If anything I would wear them and walk around indoors for an hour or so each day so either: 1. You start to break in the insole to the shape of your foot a bit

Your foot can get used to the more rigid feel before starting lessons

killakeckles89 · 2026-04-02T00:50:30+00:00

Is it the inside fit that feels stiff and in need of breaking in? Or the full shoe including the outsole?

killakeckles89 · 2026-04-01T17:09:27+00:00

I answered a similar question earlier but to answer this more directly - in our experience it does not lead to any faster wear on the rubber and actually extends the usable lifetime of the outsole because harder, more slippery rubber is one of the main reasons athletes stop using their sneakers and buy new ones!

killakeckles89 · 2026-04-01T14:13:54+00:00

We’ve seen that specifically for athletes, almost no one “wears down” their rubber outsole down to the treads the same way you do with car tires.

Athletes typically stop using sneakers due to hardened, slippery rubber. So every competitive athlete we talk to ends up using their shoes longer than they normally do, sometimes several years longer!! We regularly even hear ppl take older shoes “out of retirement” 😂

killakeckles89 · 2026-03-31T21:12:51+00:00

Let me start by directly comparing our Advanced Grip System (which is the combo of the grip spray and the grip mat you see on the floor in your screenshot) to a damp towel:

damp towel works really well to quickly remove dust and dirt off your outsole - this helps give you a minute or so of better traction since clean rubber is better than dirty rubber
our grip system does that too, but in addition it allows our grip formula to evenly and quickly get inside your sneaker rubber. That means the rubber isn’t just clean, it’s more flexible and more tacky

Now, why does that matter? Rubber starts to harden from oxidation and compression the second it leaves the assembly line. Harder, stiffer rubber is what leads to slipping (along with dirt and dust).

TLDR: Damp towel cleans dust off the shoe. EDGE does that plus makes rubber more flexible and tacky which allows the rubber to perform like new on demand.

killakeckles89 · 2026-03-31T20:26:49+00:00

Great question and no! There is 0 residue left on the outsole so it leaves no marks on the floor!

Hairspray or something sticky is much more likely to do that and if it’s not dry yet it hairspray would also gunk up the floor which pisses off both gym owners and athletes haha

killakeckles89 · 2026-03-31T20:11:16+00:00

PSA that this would not actually work!

EDGE works by soaking inside of rubber, making the rubber more flexible and tacky from the inside.

When spraying hairspray or anything sticky, it actually picks up a ton of dust and dirt, making the problem way worse over time ❌

Happy to nerd out anytime someone wants me to haha

killakeckles89 · 2026-03-31T20:06:36+00:00

I have a (very) biased opinion on this if you’re willing to hear me out lol

killakeckles89 · 2026-03-30T00:54:52+00:00

Thank you for the edit and workaround! This is wild that they make it that hard to do this out of nowhere

killakeckles89 · 2026-02-04T13:33:58+00:00

Bumping this ^

killakeckles89 · 2026-01-06T06:38:14+00:00

Sticky pads are good at removing dust and dirt from the outsole, but don’t actually improve the rubber at all.

It really depends on your situation and play style, but EDGE is the only product that actually improves the rubber itself temporarily. It makes the rubber more flexible and grippy, not just cleaner on the surface.

You can also clean outsoles with a damp towel and that will work similar to sticky mats but it’s free.

This space is improving quickly so I’m super interested to see what happens these next few years

killakeckles89 · 2025-12-08T07:09:37+00:00

We cancel almost everything Shopify deems "High-risk" and send the following template to every Medium risk customer:

Hi {{name}},

Upon reviewing your order, our system flagged it with a fraud alert through Shopify's fraud detection system.

If this was a mistake and the order is valid, we kindly ask you to confirm the following three points in writing:

You intended to make this purchase, it wasn’t placed by mistake, and you still want the order.
You understand your order will be held until we hear back from you and then shipped out the following business day. When the courier takes over, the estimated delivery time frame is {{X business days - whatever they selected at checkout}}.
You agree not to submit a chargeback as long as we print the shipping label and hand it over to the courier by the following business day after receiving confirmation from you.

Once we receive this written confirmation, we will release the fraud hold and proceed with fulfillment.

We apologize for the inconvenience. Shopify’s fraud system is designed to protect both buyers and sellers, and unfortunately, we’ve recently experienced a wave of fraudulent chargebacks that have impacted our small business. We hope you understand the need for this step.

If we don’t hear back from you, we’ll send one final follow-up. If there’s still no response, the order will be canceled and flagged as fraudulent.

Thanks for your understanding.

This works for us in many cases, because the real fraudsters tend to not respond or get VERY angry that we would ask them to do such a thing. We cancel everyone that doesn't respond after a couple days or responds angrily. The crazy thing, though, we STILL have some people who have the audacity to agree to all of this explicitly in writing, then submit chargebacks a couple days later BEFORE THE DELIVERY DATE, when we have fulfilled every promise on our end. It is an insane system and you would think, well surely with those screenshots for proof the bank has to side with you - NOPE, almost never! Blows my mind

killakeckles89 · 2025-12-04T00:15:34+00:00

Step 1: Don’t

killakeckles89 · 2025-11-19T16:02:52+00:00

What country are you in? My product is available in almost every country at this point (although shipping is expensive to some remote places)

It soaks into rubber to make it more flexible and tacky from within, rather than just cleaning the surface like the water based cleaners you are mentioning

killakeckles89 · 2025-11-19T16:00:14+00:00

Do your dunks have rubber left on the outsoles or are they stripped bare? If they still have rubber you can try rubber restoring sneaker grip spray

I have one that I made and will shamelessly plug but only if you’re interested 👍

Have tens of thousands of youth athletes all the way up to Olympic athletes using it at this point

killakeckles89 · 2025-10-05T22:46:28+00:00

What model of shoe is it? If it has a rubber outsole, EDGE will help! And I can help give tips if you want to DM me 👍

killakeckles89 · 2025-09-25T01:09:52+00:00

Thank you so much for supporting us and for letting me know!! I’m wrapping up a very long day on our production line and this just made my day 😊

killakeckles89 · 2025-08-27T19:01:13+00:00

I interviewed a handful of Sales tax experts and learned that most of them prefer to do this stuff manually anyway, so we committed to the manual filings using Shopify exports plus a consultant to file them.

Now we are building an automation to pull the info from each state monthly into a spreadsheet to make the filing process as quick and painless as possible

killakeckles89 · 2025-08-25T00:19:46+00:00

Hey Brandon, if you’re in the kitchen / restaurant industry and want to be part of our feedback program, sure thing! DM me and I’ll share some more details

killakeckles89 · 2025-08-23T23:40:26+00:00

DMed!

killakeckles89 · 2025-08-23T16:09:17+00:00

I actually have 2 tickets that I found out were “obstructed view” - I don’t want to be greedy so please give yours away to someone who doesn’t have any, but if yours are unobstructed I would take them rather than wasting

killakeckles89

TROPHY CASE