Outlines

Post-pitch story

Luke Barkley Young pitched Outlines in November 2023 under a title that made the skepticism obvious: "A Venture-Backed Shower Curtain?" Outlines sells design-forward shower curtains and bath goods. After raising about $1 million, it ended up at the center of a national story about trade policy. In June 2025, Barkley Young told CNBC how 145% tariffs on Chinese imports forced Outlines to raise prices, and then lower them again once the rates were cut. Later that summer, he said the company had shifted to about 70% AI-automated customer service to protect its margins. By early 2026, his LinkedIn showed him taking interim CMO roles at other companies, which suggests Outlines is now running lean rather than chasing fast growth. The shop is still selling, though. A shower-curtain startup making CNBC for its tariff strategy is not a twist anyone saw coming on the episode.