His time at Bain included consulting for catalog-based retailer Lands’ End, which was inspiration for the direct-to-consumer business and customer service model of Bonobos.
[7] The company launched with pants that eliminate "Khaki Diaper Butt”[8] and now offers a full line of menswear,[9] including shirts and suits.
The innovation led to the birth of an ecosystem, largely based in New York City, of DTC brands, including Warby Parker, Harry's, Glossier, Allbirds, and Away.
Core to the idea of DTC brands is bundling product and service together to drive a higher NPS customer experience than legacy brick-and-mortar driven competition can deliver.
[22] In 2022, Dunn went public with his battle with bipolar disorder, describing it in his autobiography Burn Rate and in public talks, discussing how he was diagnosed with it in college after a manic episode, and how he hid it during his startup years, despite incidents including hospitalization at Bellevue Hospital in 2016,[23] after which he was arrested for "stripping naked in the throes of mania and assaulting his then girlfriend and elderly mother-in-law"[24] In a Ted talk in 2023 he discussed it further.