Dive Brief:
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Andy Dunn will once again return to Bonobos, this time in an advisory role, new owner WHP Global said Friday. Dunn co-founded the DTC menswear brand 16 years ago with Trunk Club founder Brian Spaly.
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WHP Global and Express Inc. in April bought Bonobos from Walmart for $75 million, a fraction of the $310 million the retail giant paid in 2017.
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Dunn will work with Express CEO Tim Baxter, Bonobos President John Hutchison and the brand’s team to “help drive the future of the brand,” according to WHP Global’s press release.
Dive Insight:
As an entrepreneur and investor, Andy Dunn has led several projects.
Via Red Swan Ventures, he has backed more than 120 startups, including Warby Parker, according to Friday’s press release. He is also currently the founder and CEO of Pie, a social app that enables people to plan in-real-life gatherings. Last year, he released a memoir, “Burn Rate: Launching a Startup and Losing My Mind,” which details his previously undisclosed struggle with mental health.
And he keeps coming back to Bonobos.
In 2015 he returned to helm the company after the appointment of a retail veteran three months before failed to work out. Two years later, when Walmart acquired Bonobos — at a time when the retailer was vacuuming up a host of DTC brands — Dunn went along. He stuck around amid grumbling from some loyal customers and rumors of an internal cultural disconnect. Walmart brought on a new brand chief in 2018, and Dunn, then in charge of all of Walmart’s digital brands, left the following year. The digital brands don’t seem to have worked out for Walmart, as it is now steadily letting them go.
In a statement, Dunn called his return “a magical, full-circle moment.”
Bonobos has centered its pitch on fit and ease of purchase. Rather than stores, the company runs “guideshops,” where customers can try on clothes, then order them online. Express’ Baxter noted Dunn’s “unique perspective” as the brand’s co-founder.
His hire is “a good strategic move,” and Express is likely a better fit than Walmart was, according to Liza Amlani, principal and co-founder of Retail Strategy Group.
“I feel like this is good news for finding that brand ethos again, the purpose of the brand and all the things that made the brand successful in the first place,” she said by phone. “There's a completely different type of culture and atmosphere when you're with a design-led team like the team at Express, versus a big-box retailer.”
