Bonobos Names John Hutchison CEO
Bonobos has a new leader.
John Hutchison, a veteran of The North Face and Nike, has joined the company as chief executive officer. He succeeds Micky Onvural, who departed the company earlier this year.
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Hutchison, who joined Bonobos on Monday, held multiple executive positions at The North Face, where he is credited with a significant transformation of the brand and leading a high-growth business unit, the brand’s Run+Train division. He also held a series of leadership roles at Nike, including director of strategic planning. He was most recently the president of TRX, where he led a turnaround of the fitness company and delivered record-setting revenues and profits.
“Joining Bonobos is a full-circle moment for me; as a student at Stanford, two of my classmates created Bonobos so I’ve known and loved the brand from the very beginning. I’m proud to join Bonobos and work with the team to deliver even more growth, and help men feel comfortable and confident in their perfect-fitting clothes.”
In January, Onvural resigned the top post at Bonobos, a role she had held since 2016. Since her departure David Meir Sasson, chief operating and financial officer, had been leading the company. He will now be leaving the company, Bonobos said.
Bonobos was founded by Stanford Business School students Andy Dunn and Brian Spaly in 2007 as a direct-to-consumer men’s pant brand. It has since expanded into a variety of different categories and was acquired by Walmart in 2017 for $310 million.
“Andy and Brian were classmates of mine at Stanford, and I was lucky to see their brand start up in its earliest moments — you could say I’ve been a Bonobos fan and customer since Day One, over 15 years now,” Hutchison told WWD. “I’ve reconnected with them both over the past several months, and they have been generous in sharing their insights and stories from the early days, which will help us stay rooted as we evolve into the future.”
He said Bonobos is “the OG ‘digitally native vertical brand’ and we invented a lot of the things that are now standard in e-commerce today. But we’re still just scratching the surface of our potential. We’ll grow by simultaneously doubling-down on what makes us famous — the best-fitting pants (and everything else) — while reclaiming our mantle as an innovator in our industry, both in terms of remarkable customer experience and effortless style.”
