Industry Fashion Launched 2009 Founder Joanna Van Vleck Parent organization Nordstrom | Area served United States Website www.trunkclub.com CEO Brian Spaly (2009–) Founded 2009 | |
 | ||
Profiles | ||
Trunk Club is a personalized mid to high-end men's and woman's clothing service, based in Chicago. Each customer works with a specialist who chooses clothing for their box which is shipped to their home and the customer can purchase the clothes outright or send them back to Trunk Club. The service can be completed virtually or in person at one of the companies six locations.
Contents
Trunk club
History
Trunk Club was founded in 2009 by Joanna Van Vleck while she was an MBA student as a personalized clothing service based in Bend, Oregon.
Trunk Club first received $11 million of Series A funding led by US Venture Partners, when at this point, Brian Spaly was asked to be CEO of the floundering Trunk Club by Anthos Capital and left Bonobos in order to do so.
One of the first things Spaly did when coming onboard to Trunk Club was to create a Trunk Club HQ based in Chicago as a physical space where customers could come in, get fitted or have a session with one of the stylists or purchase clothes.
In person locations, called clubhouses, have since expanded to Dallas, Washington DC, New York City, Los Angeles, and Charleston.
Trunk Club was acquired by Nordstrom in 2014 for an estimated $350M. In an interview with the New York Times at the time of the acquisition Spaly stated the company was profitable, ‘though barely’ at the time.
Products & services
Trunk Club currently operates as a wholesaler and sells products at retail cost, rather than a subscription model. It is free to receive consultations with a stylist or have clothes delivered to your home. Clients only pay for the items they wish to keep, which can range in price from an average of $100-$300 per item.
Trunk Club also has run ‘designer series’ trunks which are collaborations with some of their ‘best selling brands’.
In 2015 Trunk Club launched their styling services for women.
Critical reception
There has been some feedback around the “immediately apparent” use of attractive young women as staff at the on-site locations, which some have seen as off-putting, as well as the aura of throwback masculinity epitomized in their clubhouses.