Daily Bonobos WTF

[bremersm]

I think it might be fun to start a daily thread of the silly things Bonobos does. Today I present to you the $85 shorts. All I can say is WTF. Don't get me wrong they are nice, but not $85 nice.


http://www.bonobos.com/po-8824-seers...eid=fcdfcde377

[jordan]

I have no doubt they make fantastic clothes...but at those price points, and without all the groupon/etc deals...they aren't going to last long.

[nicholascrawford]

They just need to make small batches of unique items to give a reason for an email blast, make pants in wild colors to fill out the rainbow for their banner ads, and produce an insane GTH pant for each holiday to keep people talking about them for free. They probably order those things by the hundreds. While ordering the Graham Slackers and Game Day chinos in navy by the thousands.

[hornsup84]

I think you guys will be surprised. They have a pretty decent following up here in NYC and plenty of people pay those types of prices for less. Yes, they won't grow into the next JCrew/BR/A&F level store, but I'm not quite sure that's where they wanted to go with their brand anyway.


That being said, I'd be hard-pressed to purchase $85 shorts. My favorite shorts are actually some near-decade old JCrew khakis where the 'cuff' (in a loose sense of the word) actually fell off from use so that they're now are naturally frayed (and a better length).

[jordan]

85$ extremely well made and comfortable pants are one thing, but shorts are half the material. Even insinuating that they should cost the same as pants is an insult to a consumers intelligence.

[nicholascrawford]

Just wait til you spend $35 on a 3T sweater for a kid.


Price is very abstract with clothing. If you were to commission a fashion designer to make you a custom pair of shorts, you can expect to spend $1000. In that sense, $85 is a song!


You can go to Wal-Mart and buy a white oxford button-down for $10. Or sit at home and pay 97 cents shipping. It's wildly disparate...and has little to do with the amount of fabric used.


Don't worry about things that are out of your price range! I find it's easier to just ignore it altogether until the prices are in my own range...then I lose all self-control.

[trash]

There's a big image/cultural component to Bonobos' branding, and once somebody becomes part of the Bonobos "cult" (don't mean that in a derogatory way) I think resistance to the price point drops dramatically. Also, not many guys out there spend as much time on their wardrobes as Dappered readers, so $85 for a pair of shorts, with a fit you already know you like, from a brand you love, shipped right to your door, is a pretty good buy. I'll stick with me $15 shorts from LEC

[VespaMatt]

@Jordan, to say it is an insult to intelligence is very extreme. While I also have a hard time paying much for shorts, it's mostly a mental equation.


Material is only a portion of the cost and they aren't quite exactly half the material since you obviously are still getting pockets and such. The main thing is that the labor on both is exactly the same - its as much work to make a pair of pants as it is shorts, the hemline doesn't change that.


I don't like paying a lot for shorts but I do think it's 90% in our head that they should be so much cheaper than a pair of trousers. I don't usually buy $85 pants, either.

[frost]

This is at least the 4th thread I've read where some referred to getting something "for a song" as Joe once referenced in a Dappered post.


cliché ?[klee-shey, kli-] Show IPA

Part of Speech: noun

Definition: overused, hackneyed phrase

[jordan]

I guess im used to things being marked high and then artificially properly priced via continuous sales...i.e. BR, Express, etc.

[nicholascrawford]

It's an idiom, not a cliché. There are only so many ways of saying something was a deal, was a steal, was a real deal, real steal, bargain, a real bargain basement steal deal, etc!

[frost]

I was just pointing out that the use of that particular idiom has become cliche.


It's the Dappered version of EPIC.

[BeachDoc]

Their prices may be expensive compared to mass produced store items, but I have found their quality to be top-notch. You can always find cheaper clothes (e.g. Walmart), but it is harder to find well made clothing that also has style. I probably wouldn't fill my closet full of $85 pairs of shorts, but I think being able to fill in holes and/or update a wardrobe with items at that price-point is more realistic for most people. I've bought jeans and pants from Bonobos...and they are hands down some of my favorite new additions.

[alan]

FWIW, today I wore a pair of Ben Sherman seersucker shorts that originally retailed for $100. I found them at Marshals for $35.

[OnlyShawn]

The answer to the W in WTF is in the very existence of this thread.