Albuquerque’s Z-CoiL Footwear to appear on season premiere of ABC’s ‘Shark Tank’

Two local entrepreneurs are springing into the national spotlight this week through an appearance on the season premiere of ABC’s “Shark Tank.”

Andres Gallegos and Lindley Gallegos Bach, a father-daughter duo from Albuquerque, will help kick off season 17 of the well-known television show — which features entrepreneurs from across the country pitching their business ideas to a group of famous investors known as “sharks” — at 9 p.m. Wednesday.

The pair will pitch their family-owned business Z-CoiL Footwear to a lineup of multimillionaires, including Kendra Scott, Rashaun Williams, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec and Kevin O’Leary, also known as “Mr. Wonderful.”

The episode will mark a significant moment in Z-CoiL’s journey, creating national exposure by drawing millions of eyes and ears. But the company’s story started long before then.

Alvaro Gallegos, the father of Andres, invented the company’s signature spring shoe in 1988. A runner plagued with injuries who was unable to find relief in existing options, he began experimenting. He was in the middle of running to cope with the pain of a personal loss when a new solution came to light.

“My mother passed away when I was 12, and it kind of made him run even more,” Andres Gallegos said. “This thought of a spring in a shoe popped in his brain. The whole idea, how it was going to be inserted, and the whole concept of it. He said it was a gift from my mother.”

Alvaro Gallegos quickly got to work trying to recreate his vision and, with the help of Gallegos, created a shoe with a three-coil spring at the heel.

The spring acts as a “shock absorber” that reduces impact by up to 50%, according to the company’s website. The shoe “significantly minimizes pressure” on the wearer’s feet, legs and back, helping to alleviate pain from conditions like plantar fasciitis and heel spurs, the website says.

Gallegos and his father patented the product and co-founded Z-CoiL Footwear in 1995, later opening the company’s only storefront at 6934 Fourth NW in 1997.

The first five years of the business were a rough ride, Gallegos said, adding a spring shoe is simple in principle but “extremely complicated” to actually engineer.

The company was nearing bankruptcy when the father and son decided to offer people free shoes in exchange for a $1,000 investment. The company ended up raising $6.25 million, allowing it to develop and release a commercially-ready product in 2000.

Today, the company has sold more than 1 million pairs since its founding and ships to places across the globe, selling its products at an average cost of roughly $200, said Gallegos, now the company’s president and CEO.

With a shifting retail landscape and roughly 97% of business coming from the company’s website and Amazon, the company has significantly scaled back its retail operations.

The company sold its products in 450 independent retail stores before 2008; today, it’s in 20 stores. The company’s storefront here in Albuquerque also offers a limited selection and is only open on Mondays.

Lindley Gallegos Bach said she’s hoping the “Shark Tank” appearance will spur new activity for both the company’s online and retail operations.

Gallegos Bach, the company’s general manager, had been trying to convince her father to apply for the popular television show for years.

“We’ve always watched it as a family, and I’ve told my dad for years, ‘You should apply to (the show). Like, this is perfect,’” Gallegos Bach said. “(The product is) easy to understand — it’s American innovation. We’re an American small family business that put it all on the line to try to launch this thing.”

Gallegos Bach grew up with the company, seeing it through its many ups and downs, including the death of her mother in 2020, she said. Navigating the personal loss in the wake of a digital revolution has been a challenge.

“The brand has definitely struggled,” she said. “Lately, it seems like a lot more down, so I think our goal (going on the show) was like, ‘All right, are we going to try to do this, to turn this thing around and get back out there?’”

The pair applied last year and made it far into the application process before eventually being cut. They tried again this year, made the cut and extensively prepared for their appearance.

“We honestly practiced like crazy,” Gallegos Bach said, adding that trying to memorize more than 30 years’ worth of customer acquisition costs, average prices, marketing costs and debt ratios was “an incredible feat.”

While the preparation posed a “Herculean task” that left the two “exhausted for weeks,” Gallegos said it was the experience of a lifetime.

“It was a really amazing honor, especially to be there with my daughter,” Gallegos said. “It’s just a very cool experience, and I mean, somebody told me when we were there, ‘You remember the day your kids were born; you remember the day you were married; and you remember the day you were on ‘Shark Tank.’”

To make the cut for filming and airing was one thing, but to land on a spot in the premiere is “a huge honor,” Gallegos said. He said he is “proud” to represent New Mexico and Albuquerque on a national stage.

Everyone will have to tune in to the episode on Wednesday to find out whether the Albuquerque business is a shoe-in for a deal, as the entrepreneurs are legally bound from giving spoilers, much to the disappointment of their family, including 94-year-old Alvaro Gallegos, who remains in Albuquerque today.

“He can’t stand that he doesn’t know the details,” Andres Gallegos said. His late wife, he added, would have been “ecstatic beyond measure.”

Regardless of the outcome, Gallegos and Gallegos Bach said they hope the experience helps the brand continue to grow and support people with physical pain while showcasing the power of perseverance.

“I think when you work hard and your heart’s in the right place, good things happen,” Gallegos Bach said. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from both my parents, it’s to never shy away from anything. Step into your greatness, be yourself and take big swings.”