Des Moines may just be the apex of the Bonobos universe.
See, there’s a lot more to the Iowan jewel than French etymology and the Barnstormers. Every four years it hosts the nation’s most consistently and hotly anticipated caucus (and Bonobos is currently holding our own presidential caucus of sorts, with our obamas and mccains). It’s home to the Great Ape Trust, which houses–I kid you not–a colony of eight bonobos.
And, last but not least, it’s the place our Director of Operations Adam Sidney used to call home. It was only natural, then, when we sent our first pair of trousers there a few weeks ago (the jackson brownes), that they’d be welcomed as a harmonious addition to that underrated, kick-ass American city:
Lulled by memories of Roosevelt High and Sec Taylor stadium, Adam replied:
Ben,
Wow, what a great letter to receive. Thanks for taking the time this morning to write and share your thoughts on Bonobos. We definitely plan on being around for a long time.
I’m happy to report that business is great despite the challenging economy, and our customers and investors have helped position us for long-term success. We look forward to serving up awesome trousers, shorts, and belts (and soon dress shirts) for as long as people will buy them. We look forward to doing whatever it takes to keep you as a satisfied customer.
When I saw your order heading to Des Moines, I had to flag it so I could write you a note, myself being a native Des Moinesan. You got the first pair in the Capitol, congrats! Our e-commerce business model means that we can reach trendsetters not only in New York but also Des Moines. Thanks for spreading the word in a city that is a lot cooler than anyone gives it credit for! Thanks again!
Potential Customer: Why oh why is the minimum length of all your trousers 34″? I love the look and style [of your pants] but I don’t want to order trousers when the first thing I have to do is take them to a tailor to have them hemmed. I’m typically a 33 waist and 32 leg. There are a lot of guys like me out there…
It’s true! Our pants come with a longer inseam than what many guys wear. We get this question all the time, though, and I thought it was time that I wrote a blog post on our reasoning. The reason for our long inseams is that no two guys are the same height. Most guys buy a size off the rack (try 33/32) thinking it’s close enough, but end up stepping on their hem and mangling it, or wearing pants that are just a little too short. You know the look, when you cross your legs the pants rise up so that you can see past the top of your socks. No good. Hemming is an extra step, but it’s one that we believe is necessary (and worth it) if you want pants that truly fit correctly.
Also, it’s important to note that our taller customers really appreciate this practice. They’re thrilled that they can finally get pants that are long enough for them! The fact is, it’s easy to shorten pants, but to lengthen them is nearly impossible. We would be doing our taller customers a huge disservice if we shortened our standard inseams. Maybe you need to haggle a little, maybe not, but most dry cleaners should be able to handle this simple hem for under $12. Underneath the Bonobos office in NYC, we get it done for $9. Email us at ninjas at bonobos.com if you need the address.
We also can’t forget, though, that we’re still a very small company and we’re a little limited in terms of what we can offer. Perhaps in the future we’ll have the capability to offer inseams in varying length, but we’re not quite there yet. Think of the SKU complexity! We can only get the same quality fabric in limited quantities right now and we’re able to have many more bonobos in stock as a result of producing them long.
In closing, we hope that you’ll give Bonobos a try–we have the best returns policy on the block, so if you dig everything else about our product, why not give ’em a shot to become your go-to trousers?
There is no greater thrill in life than receiving a package in the mail. Neuroscientists have proven this to be true (something about endorphins, or dolphins… we weren’t listening), and the great Polish anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski confirmed it with his own decades-long study of the Trobriand Islanders. You can look it up! (Please don’t, actually.)
But we know how it goes - as you grow older, your enthusiasm for mail call wanes. The thrill disappears. Why? Because that refrigerator-sized crate sitting at your doorstep most likely contains the refrigerator you ordered, and not the Svedka sexbot you had written away for on a Maraschino-stained cocktail napkin. That’s why it’s been part of the Bonobos mission since Day One to pump some much needed FedExcitement back into the lives of our customers. And now we’re happy to announce that after an exhaustive search, we’ve found the perfect package to do justice to our beloved pants. Let’s see that big, toothy grin of yours for the new, blue Bonobox.
Okay, so it’s taken us a full year to get our act together on the packaging front. But we’ll be honest - we took our time with your mother (and ours) in mind. Mother Nature - we care about her. And we know the bad rep retail gets for irresponsible use of packaging material and profligate waste. That’s why we offer you the 100% recyclable Bonobox, with the hope that you will find a creative way to reuse it. Store your knick-knacks, or your embarrassing VHS collection (Look Who’s Talking Too? Really?). Or at the very least, use your Bonobox when packaging your returns.
There’s no better time to order those no scrubs you’ve had your eye on, now that you know they’ll be arriving in this handsome box. Turqs aren’t a bad choice either; they really bring out that blue. Come to think of it, all our trousers look positively stunning in their patterned cardboard cozies. This box is tops.
A shout-out is in order to Vanessa at sidedesigns.com, who was instrumental in this process. They’re the folks responsible for customizing the size and design of the Bonobox for our needs, much as we strive to customize the fit of our pants for you. As you can see, they did a bang-up job of it. Thanks Vanessa!
When he’s not plundering doubloons, whittling peg legs, or teaching parrots to sing sea shanties, Chris Balmer teaches pre-school in the Spring Lake Park School District in Minnesota. He also mentors at the school district’s teen center, using theater to foster the kids’ creativity while delivering anti-drug, nonviolence, and diversity tolerance messages. Once he completes a Master’s degree in public policy he’ll pursue a career in law enforcement. (Though we suspect he’s missed his calling as a swashbuckler.)
Thanks for your support and for all you do for the youth of Spring Lake Park, Chris!
Customer service is a state of mind. Let me explain:
I’ve been a New Yorker for six weeks, exactly as long as I’ve been on the Bonobos team. But it took me over a month to find an apartment (I played “musical couches” in the meantime), so even though I’ve settled into certain very New York behaviors—jaywalking with impunity, etc.—I’m still more or less unpacking. I’m still, more or less, a total newbie.
So, last week, when my dearest friend in the whole world (and a beacon of style in her own right) asked if I would accompany her to La Gioconda at the Metropolitan Opera in 48 hours, my mind began to race faster and louder than the cabs shooting up Sixth Avenue at 8:58 in the morning. Most of my clothes are still sequestered in boxes—I think I’ve only got jeans and my capertons—can I wear Doc Martens to the Met?—of course I can’t, what the hell am I thinking?WHAT AM I GOING WEAR?
Eventually it became clear to me that even if I managed to unpack and organize my closet in time, I would come up short. I’m not in college anymore. Jeans and a hoodie can no longer be my go-to look, the outfit du jour. (Nor should it be for anyone whose daily schedule doesn’t include a round of ultimate frisbee in the quad or a kegger in the dorms.) That awkward, rumpled, I’m-swimming-in-my-button-down-and-this-tie-used-to-be-my-dad’s approach to formal wear would be, thenceforth, unacceptable. It was time to up my game.
I marched into Bonobos HQ the next day (T-minus 36 hours from my debut at the Met), approached Brian Spaly at his desk, and asked him for help. He’s awesome at putting together a look and often helps the team (and our customers) rock their bonobos as hard as they can. “Invest in a few versatile staples,” he advised—like dark brown loafers and a navy blazer. Look for a good value but don’t skimp on quality. For the most part, labels are unimportant. How much you pay for an item takes a backseat to the fit–you will always look good in clothes that fit, regardless of “who” you are wearing, so let that be your guide. For the Met, he told me not to feel obligated to wear a jacket and tie–a clean and elegant dress shirt or sweater would be fine. It may have a black-tie reputation, but the opera is meant, fundamentally, to be entertainment. Comfort’s got to play a role in the theatergoer’s attire (not to mention that La Gioconda is four hours long).
Back at my desk, I considered the gorgeous black trousers Kevin Kelleher had just picked up from our manufacturer in the garment district, twenty blocks north of our HQ. Kevin’s a Production and Operations ninja here at Bonobos, a former D1 footballer, and the trousers in question–jet black, with a slender, graceful drape–were named in part after his favorite adjective: savage.
Two realizations came at once: 1) I was over-thinking this opera outfit. Brian was right: I didn’t need to reinvent the wheel, just take a clean look and make sure everything fit well; and 2) I was way overdue in using my employee discount. A look began coming together in my head. I made one of the inaugural purchases of the savage, and later that evening I made two more strategic upgrades to my wardrobe: sleek, side-zip dress boots and a crisp, well-fitted dress shirt white as the leblons. I figured I’d top the outfit off with my pinstripe Banana Republic blazer, take it to the next level with a gray silk pocket square, and off I’d go.
The Bonobos team had other plans.
I arrived at HQ the next day, garment bag slung over my arm and pep in my step, to find a luxurious velvet blazer from Theory draped over my chair. It was Spaly’s, and after a quick try-on to confirm that it fit nicely, he offered to lend it to me for the night. It was all I could do to say thanks without drooling on that gorgeous garment.
As afternoon sidled up to evening, I made the transformation: Jeans into savage. Sneakers into sleek laceless boots. T-shirt into snow-white Calvin Klein poplin. My tired-but-workable blazer into a velvet number that blew it out of the water. The only problem: the ensemble had a new weak link. My pale gray pocket square, while sufficient, lacked that certain Bonobos panache. Kevin Kelleher to the rescue–he snatched a swatch of silk from our cutting table, yellow swirled with ecru and gray. Although previously accustomed to leveling running backs trying to find a breakaway, Kevin deftly folded the silk into a bright crescent that would peek out from the velvety depths of the jacket (Insider’s tip: Look for this same silk to line the g6, a charcoal-hued successor to the g5 reminiscent of the g4!)
I had planned to go without a belt–my bonobos fit like a glove, so I certainly didn’t need one to keep them from falling down, and I liked the idea of showing off our custom-made, Italian nickel hardware. But the guys chimed in, recommending a simple black belt to round out the ensemble. Problem: the only one I had with me was an old, wide thing that lived exclusively in the loops of my favorite broken-in jeans. Our offerings, in Italian tie silk, are beautiful, but not necessarily formal wear. Adam Sidney, indie music connossieur and our Director of Operations, frowned beneath his beard. In a single whip-like motion, he removed his shiny black belt and held it out to me. Best of all, before I could get out a single sentimentalized sentence, Sidney sent me on my way with his own style of encouragement: “Go kick some ass!”
I was dressed more properly and maturely than perhaps ever before in my life, and it changed my outlook on the evening. I noticed a new and exciting strength in my stride and comfort in my conversation. Being thoughtfully dressed, I realized, isn’t about looking fly to stroke your ego. It’s about feeling confident and at ease, freeing you to be attentive to the experiences and individuals that shape your daily (and nightly) experience. In a way (and here I go again, sentimentalizing), working in fashion means we’re in the business of affecting human dignity, and that is a responsibility we cannot take lightly. Which brings me back, finally, to customer service.
As I’ve ruminated on that night at the opera, I’ve concluded that the generosity and enthusiasm I experienced from the whole team would be unlikely to exist for me if I worked at a different company. Turns out, when you commit to making customer satisfaction and service your number one priority, you weave into the fabric of your business model an unequivocal tendency for empathy and helpfulness–and that, for its ability to transcend the buyer/seller dynamic, is something special.
Whether you’re a potential first-time customer or our biggest spender, know that we approach your customer service needs with the mindset that it’s our job to worry about you looking good, not yours. We want you to don your bonobos and venture onward, in pursuit and enjoyment of all the world has to offer.
After all the fun of our previous competitions (name the navy shorts, describe the dark and stormys, and name the stone twills), we’ve decided to lay down another challenge to our awesomely creative customers (and would-be customers alike): name one of our newest styles, to be launched later this week: a new dress trouser in jet-black. Please make your submission as a comment on this post, and please only submit once. Give it some thought, and give it your one best shot.
We were way too helpful in describing the dark and stormys, so here’s all you’ve got to work with this time: the new trousers are black, with a herringbone weave. They are lined in the same black and red tiger-stripe silk as the tiger sharks. Like the mccains, there is no contrasting back-pocket liner. Oh, and the material? I’ve saved the best detail for last: It’s 100% cashmere. We’re going to put them at $275, but rest assured they’d be about three times that at Barney’s or Bloomingdale’s.
To win, you don’t have to submit a name and a description, but know that it can’t hurt your chances (and that after the extreme lengths of writerly restraint I just went through to bring you the above paragraph in simple, declarative sentences, I, for one, look forward to seeing these new and groundbreaking bonobos get a world-class wordsmithing from one of you out there!).
Wondering if it’s worth a shot? Marcus Coe doesn’t appear to have any regrets as he sports his gratis dark and stormys and sips their namesake cocktail.
That’s right, to the winner goes a pair of these pants on the house–our priciest giveaway to date.
Gents, consider the ante upped. Bring your A game.
Even though most of our customer feedback looks more like Christopher Thornton’s, we do encounter our fair share of skeptics–which, frankly, we relish. We make trousers for men of discernment, and at any time we’re happy to answer (in detail) the question, “No, seriously. What’s so great about your pants?”
Sometimes, though, we receive inquiries that bypass skepticism and go straight to naysaying:
We’ll give it to this guy; he’s got cojones. He’s got strong feelings and he voices them–strongly. We respect that. We responded with a pretty detailed overview of why our pants are priced the way they are, and we think it’s important information for naysayers and believers alike to be aware of. Dave Eisenberg, a warrior poet and our Chief of Staff, answered:
Just got your e-mail forwarded to me from our PR department and I wanted to address your points right away.
I wrote a blog post on why our shorts are priced where they are here, which goes into our pricing in a lot more depth. I just poked around on Brooks Brothers’ site and found no fewer than 7 pairs priced at $250 a pop, so I have even more confidence that we’re doing the right thing. The major cost drivers in our products are the following features:
1. Our pants are made in New York City. They are hand-sewn: We have a curved waistband that requires a unique sewing procedure that we would have a lot of difficulty outsourcing to a machine-based production facility in China (where Brooks Brothers does a good deal of its manufacturing).
2. Our fabric is of a much higher quality than the stuff on their [Brooks Brothers’] basic pants (and certainly on anything in a major mass market retailer). We import our wool and cashmere from Italy and Belgium and our corduroy from Spain. The silk that lines our wool pants is made in Italy and bought here in America.
The proper comparable for our $190 wool pairs is closer to this pair from Brooks Brothers. It retails for $1500 and is sold on their site for $525! That is drastically more expensive than anything we offer. They have a ton of pants in this price range, and all of their “Black Fleece” collection (this is where they use European fabrics) is more expensive than our stuff. It’s impossible for them not to be; they have to pay for fancy models, advertising, and other costs that we hate as former retail consumers.
When you buy from a Brooks Brothers (or similar) you are paying for a ton of stuff that we don’t do. We have our employees and customers model our pants. We have never paid for glossy advertisements in magazine or on billboards. We don’t go to runway shows and we do all of our web development in-house. In short, all you pay for when you buy from Bonobos is our fabric, American labor, and customer service. No middleman, no store overhead, no department store staff to hassle you while you’re trying to buy, etc. We think it’s a better, fairer value proposition to our customers, so we’re going to stick with it.
We believe in our philosophy. Not everyone can afford bonobos. Our worldview is driven by the fact that we don’t believe those who pursue the most lucrative careers should necessarily get to enjoy all of the spoils. So we make our pants a lot more affordable to people who choose careers where they help others on a daily basis. Policemen, firefighters, teachers, servicemen—these are just a few professions that have members in our Band of Brothers program. I’m sure that I don’t have to mention that no such policy exists at [insert retailer here].
Would you be interested in trying a pair? We’ve got a one of a kind return policy, so if you’re not perfectly satisfied, we’ll pay you to send them back to us. That’s our business model and I sincerely hope we can be your “go-to pants store.” We’d love to have you as a customer.
We’ve published the exchange between Dave and the nameless naysayer here not to stroke our egos, but to earnestly invite anyone who thinks we can improve to contact us and let us know what we should do differently. We may not agree with your recommendations, but we will always respond thoroughly and respectfully.
Customer feedback is extremely valuable to us here at Bonobos. Whether critical or complimentary, when you voice your opinions, we take it to heart. Check out what one Bonobos man, Christopher Thornton, wrote to co-founders Andy and Brian about his shoguns and khakis:
Thanks for those enthusiastic words, Christopher! And thanks for rocking your bonobos.
I’ve been getting a few emails, questions & comments about why our shorts cost what they cost, so this morning I decided to post my response to one of these comments from a potential customer.
“Dear Customer,
Let me open the kimono a little bit to explain how we arrive at our pricing. There are a few elements at work here that cause our products to be priced where they are–no higher, no lower. Just what we know is fair, and more appropriately priced than anything that you’ll buy in a retail store. Our pricing is a function of the quality of our raw material inputs and the labor costs of high quality cut & sew shops right here in America.
The reason that our shorts are not substantially less expensive than our pants is that the process to make shorts & pants is almost identical!
Our materials:
- all of our shorts are made of the highest quality (organic when possible) cotton from Belgian & Spanish mills, same as our pants; it’s not cheap to get the best fabric when you’re not that big of a company, yet
- our buttons are custom made metal pull/slide buttons from Italy– we have the same buttons on our shorts & pants
- our zippers are soft-tooth metal zippers (the zippers/buttons are among the highest quality you can find in the world); again, same on shorts & pants
Making the shorts:
- most of the costs involved in the construction of our pants are replicated in the production of our shorts. Our waistbands are still hand-sewn to mirror a man’s waistline better than a machine cut option (a la Banana republic and others). The contours around the rear/thigh are still the same in our shorts as they are in our pants. These custom elements to our product production, along with the high quality of our fabric, are what drive our prices. When we make pants, compared to making shorts, the only additional costs that you are seeing involve the additional .2-.3 yards of fabric from the knees on down and the cost of finishing the pant bottoms. This explains why it’s hard to make high quality shorts much cheaper than high quality pants– you’ve usually got to skimp on labor costs, a path of poor quality and ethics.
What you are NOT seeing in the pricing of our pants is what you DO see in comparable brands(Zegna, Paul Smith, Theory, Armani, John Varvatos, etc.).In their pricing they include the costs of expensive retail space, expensive models, advertising in print magazines, launch parties, etc. It’s the reason our pants are priced at $120 as opposed to $250 or higher. It’s the reason our pluperfects are $350 and not $900. It’s the reason our shorts are $95, and not the prices seen on this page here: Saks 5th Ave. shorts. 90% of the shorts there are more expensive than ours, even before you consider their hugely marked up shipping and handling costs that will hit you at checkout.
(Redacted), I apologize for the length of this email but it’s really important to us to effectively convey this information appropriately–it’s our core philosophy and central to what we believe is wrong with the retail system. We don’t charge you a cent more than what we’re charged on shipping from FedEx, while a company like Brooks Brothers does the total opposite.
We price our pants fairly and we have a unique return policy, “any pair, any time, any reason.” We do this so that there’s no risk to a customer like you. If you wonder why our shorts are priced at $95 we encourage you to try them out, knowing that we’ll take them back at any time for a full credit. We’re a really small company right now, but we hope that with our maniacal focus on changing the retail paradigm from one that largely punishes guys like us to one that recognizes that the customer is everything, we can effect a men’s clothing revolution.
Moreover, if our shorts are too expensive because you’ve chosen to take a career in public service, or some other position that is radically underpaid relative to the amount of good you do for the world, feel free to check out our Band of Brothers program where we sell our wares at cost to these inspiring individuals.
Thanks for taking the time to ask a probing question and I hope my answer is satisfactory. If it isn’t feel free to call or email me at any time.
Guess what? No, try again. No, not that either. Dangit, you’re not trying hard enough. Ok, we’ll just say it. Bonobos is getting press in TimeOut New York! Yes, you heard correctly. Click here if you don’t believe us, and take a look at this great write-up. Not only do they talk about the brand, they also get up close and personal with founders Brian Spaly and Andy Dunn. Can words express our excitement? Probably not, but let’s chat over a couple of reasonably priced Vietnamese baguette sandwiches ($3.00-$3.50) in the LES, and give it a try.
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