What Happened To The FashionTap App From Shark Tank Season 7?

Going up against the heavyweights in the social media realm with your own platform is no small feat to say the least. But those worries did little to deter Los Angles-based influencer and entrepreneur Amy Roiland who believed that her fashion-centric app, FashionTap, would not only carve out a unique niche all its own, but also be a game-changer in the industry as a whole. 

As its name implies, FashionTap was a social media platform made by and for fashion and style influencers. Its biggest perk was allowing creators to tag directly to the website of the products they donned, as opposed to similar platforms where tags only send you to that brand's respective account. Content creators are given an extra incentive as they are paid out a portion of the sales. Despite being the sister of "Rick and Morty" co-creator Justin Roiland, Amy Roiland's true claim to fame was her popular online blog and social media handle @afashionnerd, which gained a substantial following thanks to her vibrant '60s-inspired aesthetic, eventually partnering with major brands such as Forever21 and FreePeople.

Six months into launching FashionTap, Roiland found herself on Season 7 of "Shark Tank," which featured other unique app pitches such as the similarly fashion-focused MTailor and password protector SplitKey. While Roiland brought no shortage of passion and confidence to her pitch, the Sharks largely saw her naivety to the space as a red flag. But when one of the investors did make an offer, the entrepreneur gave a response that left the Sharks speechless. 

Amy Roiland was looking to get $100,000 in return for 10% equity of FashionTap. She described its uniqueness when compared to similar platforms, stating that it not only gives users an easier way of getting the specific clothes they desire, but also proves beneficial to creators who are given a commission. The company was working with three revenue streams. The first was an e-commerce store which would partner with big box stores and take 10% of sales. The second would be sponsorships that would involve brands paying for influencers to wear their products. The third were the aforementioned affiliate links, with users getting between 3% and 35% of the sale. 

Within FashionTap's six months of existence, it had gained 6,000 downloads. The company made $60,000, but with revenue split between content creators and various teammates, Roiland wasn't making anything and largely living off of her savings. She hoped to put the $100,000 towards marketing, stating that getting to 100,000 monthly users would get them to $7 million. 

Most of the Sharks believed that Roiland was vastly underestimating the challenges ahead in getting users to migrate to her platform and making deals for affiliate and e-commerce opportunities. Barbara Corcoran was the only one to make an offer, favorably comparing Roiland to the entrepreneurs behind one of her most profitable investments, Grace and Lace. However, Corcoran was declined outright when she asked for 25% equity, as Roiland wanted her other teammates to maintain their share. The Sharks were shocked, especially given that Roiland wouldn't even counter. Corcoran exited the deal after that, leaving Roiland empty-handed. 

While FashionTap's pitch didn't garner a reception as legendarily poor as that same season's health-focused social media app RoloDoc, it nevertheless proved how tough the sharks are to impress. However, Amy Roiland's ambitions for FashionTap were too tough for any criticism to penetrate, and she continued to anticipate bigger and better things for the company. 

FashionTap's "Shark Tank" episode aired on April 29, 2016. A little less than a month later, Roiland was interviewed on an episode of the Amber Mac podcast series "The Feed" where she discussed her experience on the show. While she had respect for the sharks, Roiland nevertheless felt that they failed to see the core of her mission, stating, "I just felt like a lot of them don't know the fashion industry and kind of what the problems are like currently that I'm solving and a lot them didn't get it... it wasn't bad ... they actually loved the app they thought it was beautiful but they just didn't see the need for it so it was kind like I felt like I was on another planet." She added that Daymond John was the Shark she was aiming for, given his success elevating fashion brands in the past. 

The entrepreneur still struggled to find resources, but stated that something exciting was in the works, although the opportunity was never revealed. "I definitely need more funding," she said. "I'm in the middle of a really exciting thing that I can't talk about for funding, once I can get the funding for the app, I can build out way more features that would make everyone really happy." 

Sadly, despite Amy Roiland's momentum, FashionTap didn't last much longer after its time on "Shark Tank." According to Amy Roiland's LinkedIn, the company went defunct in 2018. Today, its Instagram account is the only bit of online presence that remains of FashionTap, although it has not been updated since July 2016.

As is the case with many "Shark Tank" businesses that go black, finding specific reasoning for FashionTap's disappearance is difficult. The only bit of official information out there comes from a 2022 interview with Roiland conducted by Portraits Digital Magazine. When asked about her "Shark Tank" appearance and how she felt about the monetization and social shopping features she boasted about in her app eventually being adopted by major players like Instagram, Roiland remarked, "Yes I knew this would happen and social commerce would be huge. Too bad I didn't have a better team in place." 

While a more efficient team or even a Shark could have helped give Roiland's business a boost, it's hard to imagine that even the most powerful player could have made much of a dent in the space when more established players were continuing to innovate. Simply put, the problem that Roiland was hoping to solve, while admirable, would have been addressed by larger competitors eventually if it was necessary enough. Even with the best intentions, FashionTap's handful of perks would not have been enough to compete in the long run.  

Even though things didn't pan out with FashionTap as Amy Roiland had hoped, that didn't mean her time as a creator was over. Far from, as instead of attempting to go toe-to-toe with the established titans, she instead chose to adapt her unique sensibilities to the modern landscape. While the results have been largely successful, they weren't without some major bumps in the road. 

As of today, Roiland continues to have a strong following across her various social media channels. She sports 270,000 followers on Instagram and over 611,000 on TikTok as of this writing, both of which still have her go under the name @afashionnerd. She continues to collaborate with brands, even designing and curating collections for such companies as Betty & Veronica Eyewear and Ella Grace Couture. In 2018, she married her longtime sweetheart Ben Bayouth and in early 2020 the two had their first daughter, Ryder, followed by their first son, Rockwell, in 2024. 

While not to the level of her more infamous sibling, Amy has found herself in the center of controversy. She's been criticized for heavily featuring Ryder in much of her content, given the lack of protection children receive across social media. In 2022, she received further backlash after fellow influencer @smacmccreanor declined Roiland's request to using their studio space for free, causing Roiland to send negative comments and voice messages. More recently, Roiland experienced personal strife as Ryder was diagnosed with a brain tumor in late 2023 and has been going through chemotherapy ever since.