Why This Jacket Made Almost $10 Million Before It Was Ever Made

— -- How did a jacket that hadn't even been manufactured yet make almost $10 million?

It's one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns of all time -- one its creators started out with a goal of $20,000.

The "ninja jacket," as it's been dubbed, is the brainchild of Hiral Sanghavi, CEO of BauBax - the actual name of the ninja jacket. "We were secretly hoping to raise over a million in final funding," he said. "We had never imagined we would end up crossing $9 million."

The project launched July 7 and closed with a total of $9,192,055.

With 15 features -- including a neck pillow, drink pocket and eye mask -- the jacket was designed with travelers in mind.

"I do long weekly airline commutes from Chicago where I’m completing my MBA at the Kellogg School of Management to see my wife in San Francisco," said Sanghavi. "From this experience, we set out to solve all of the problems travelers encounter by designing travel jackets, blazers, bombers and hoodies/sweatshirts with everything a traveler wants and needs."

Sanghavi said the two-second inflatable neck pillow is favorite feature of backers -- 44,949 backers from 81 countries, ordering 72,000 jackets on the Kickstarter campaign.

The campaign is closed, but BauBax is available for pre-order on Indiegogo’s InDemand ranging between $149 to $189.

"It's exciting to have your product resonate with so many customers from around the world. And it's a great opportunity to have found such a huge customer base for our first product under BauBax. It's a very humbling experience."