The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
NEW YORK, United States — Bonobos founder Andy Dunn is leaving Walmart two years after it bought the new-gen mens clothing brand for $310 million.
In the space of a few years, Walmart also bought the e-commerce venture Jet.com, bringing in founder Marc Lore as president and chief executive of Walmart e-commerce, as well as retro-inspired women's apparel line Modcloth and plus-size retailer Eloquii. Dunn was enlisted to help create new brands, many of which never came to fruition.
But the digital ventures didn't live up to the Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant's expectations. Most of the new brands operated deep in the red while failing to draw the young, urban consumers Walmart believed it needed to head off Amazon and other online competitors. In July, Recode reported that Walmart was losing as much as $1 billion on running digital properties.
Dunn founded Bonobos in 2007, with a pitch to consumers that the brand had designed better-fitting men's pants. It became known for its "guideshop" retail concept, where customers could browse products and try them on, but purchases would be shipped to their homes from centralised warehouses. The inventory-free concept has since been adopted by companies ranging from Nordstrom and Canada Goose. Bonobos has 60 stores and about 600 employees.
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