Bonobos Goes Major Retail? Nordstrom Invests $16 Million.
Welcome & Thanks for Visiting UndershirtGuy.com!Jeepers! This is interesting news. Nordstrom led a $16 million investment round in pants online-only retailer Bonobos.
Pretty interesting considering that most retailers are investing heavily in their online presence, as traditional bricks & mortar retailing business models feel the heat from show rooming & online cost savings. Surprisingly, here’s a traditional online-only (with one minor NYC location exception) brand going into bricks & mortar.
Most of the articles I read about the investment announcement cites that Bonobos was looking to extend their reach to the traditional/physical retail consumer, since there are still many people who like to try on pants before they buy them. I totally get this, because lord knows I have a hard enough finding pants that will fit me – I don’t dare buy them online.
I also appreciate that Bonobos developed a wildly successful business exclusively online, and now that they are well established, it’s natural that they would want to test traditional retail in a low-risk sort of way. Bonobos will be available in only 20 Nordstrom stores initially.
I’m curious though if whether or not you’ll see any opposite residual effect from the partnership whereby you’ll start to see select/strategic Nordstrom items available through Bonobos.com?
I’m still convinced a new retail/online hybrid shopping experience is imminent. Mark my words.
Category: Style-Fashion
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I’ve bought quite a few pants from Bonobos and absolutely love them. They are some of the best fitting pants I own. I get compliments on them all the time. I had no idea about the Nordstrom deal, so I will have follow-up on that…
I agree with you Tug on the hybrid thing, and from the looks of the Bonobos website, they’ve been integrating other branded products into their shopping experience, so it may be very likely.
Jacob
No, I did not buy anything from them-they basically don’t make clothes for short guys, and the cost to fix them would have made them to costly to purchase.
gotcha. thanks for the info michael!
I actually had a rep from Bonobos come and show me samples in my office, about 3-4 years ago. The rep was only there to show me product, but not to take an order As someone who is short, and the way that they make the pants, it did not make sense to try and buy them on line-Maybe Nordstrom will help them out–
wow! now that some personal service michael! the rep came to your office? very cool.
did you wind up buying some pants from them? what did you think of them?