Bonobos: One alum's quest for the perfect fit

Bonobos

When Spaly received a sewing machine as a joke gift from his girlfriend, he learned how to sew and began experimenting with trouser designs since he had never found ones that fit him perfectly.

“I was working in private equity during the day and fiddling and tinkering with a sewing machine at night,” he said.

After graduating from Princeton with a degree in economics and a certificate in finance, Spaly worked for two years at Bain & Company, two years at Parthenon Capital and a year on the management team of AccuMed, a manufacturer of over-the-counter medical products. He first developed his business plan for Bonobos while he was pursuing an MBA at Stanford, which Spaly called a “big cradle of entrepreneurship.”

Using the education and resources available to him on the Stanford campus, Spaly began to sell his designs.

“I realize that I’m not the only guy with pants not fitting very well,” Spaly said. “I did a survey and talked with anyone who would listen to my idea, and it turns out that many guys have this issue too.”

He named his company after the Bonobo chimpanzees from the Congo.

“They are a very friendly animal that likes to have sex all the time,” he explained. “It has a great ring to it, and I’m someone who doesn’t believe in violence but believes there are many beneficial aspects to being sexually active versus being violent.”

Bonobos bootcut trousers feature curved waistbands that eliminate extra material around the waist and narrower thigh cuts that appear neither baggy nor tight, Spaly said, adding that the pants are handmade from high-quality materials like organic cotton.

Amit Mukherjee ’10, who owns five pairs of Bonobos pants, said he recently discovered the brand on Twitter.

“I’m kind of into clothes. I’m sort of almost metro, but not really,” he explained. “Pants just generally don’t fit me that well because my legs are too big ... [most pants] make my legs look fatter [but Bonobos] make my legs look a lot slimmer.”

Mukherjeee said his first pair of Bonobos were “pretty standard” brown corduroys. Next, he purchased a pair of navy shorts, followed by a pair of navy shorts with palm trees.

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“I think pants just look better … than jeans,” he explained. “[Pants] really separate you when you go out. Not a lot of people wear pants so I get a lot of comments on them, a lot of positive feedback.”

Mukherjee, who regularly posts about his Bonobos-filled wardrobe on Twitter, added that the pants range in price from $110 to $300.

Spaly explained that his age puts him in touch with his customers’ needs. “I feel like I have so much authenticity in the men’s market because I am the dead center of our target market, the 32-year-old guy who cares about how he looks and has trouble finding things that fit well,” he said. “I can bring a lot of experience into the design and experience stage, which has in turn driven a lot of our success.”

Bonobos pants are mainly marketed to men between the ages of 20 and 50 who “want their pants to fit better and who have trouble finding pants out there in the mass market,” Spaly said. The company currently reaches all 50 states and 30 countries through internet-based retail, he added.

“What differentiates us is that we’re determined to be known as a service company,” said Bonobos Operations and Productions Ninja Kevin Kelleher ’08, who joined the company last year. “We really pride ourselves in looking after every need of our customer. Our return policy speaks to this. We tell people any product for any reason at any time.”

Spaly said Bonobos pants have enjoyed great popularity among customers.

“Ninety-two percent of guys who try out our pants buy them and love them,” he explained. “That is not common in the fashion world to have such a high rate of success.”

Spaly credited Princeton with giving him the skills he applies to his position as Bonobos’ creative director, though in retrospect, he said, he should have pursued an art history degree during his undergraduate years.

“The most valuable things I learned at Princeton came out of my art history classes, which gave me an appreciation for different aesthetics and the ability to write about them and think about them, to really articulate an artistic vision,” he explained.

Though other apparel brands have encountered financial difficulties because of the economic downturn, Bonobos has grown in the last two years, Spaly said.

“Our company has not been hurt by the recession in terms of shrinking sales,” he noted. “Our business model is a bit more friendly to a recession because we don’t order products nine to 12 months in advance, like many companies do. Ralph Lauren or J.Crew is probably making orders for the 2009 holiday season. When the economy is so volatile, it is difficult to do so in advance.”

Bonobos is also planning to expand its product line with swimsuits and polo shirts this summer.

“Basically, our customers are telling us to make more clothes, and we hope we can do that successfully,” he explained. “So the task now is to come up with products just as compelling as our pants.”

— Senior writer Marissa Lee contributed reporting.