The Trunk Club Review – Subscription Men’s Clothing Box

Do you know what the most common word in American men’s vocabulary is? It’s “busy”.  If we aren’t working, we’re drinking, working out, chasing ladies, or maybe even all of the above.  What most men don’t want to make time for: shopping.

There in lies the dilemma.  We want to look good, dapper, put together, and look like we know what we’re doing, but we don’t have the time to make it all happen.

That’s where the Trunk Club comes in. It’s a subscription service where you are assigned your very own personal stylist, and they curate outfits for you. After the choosing is done, Trunk Club sends you one hell of a good looking box. Simple enough, saves you time, and helps you look dapper at all times.

Trunk Club was started by Brian Spaly, the same great mind who brought us Bonobos and their amazing fitting pants. In 2009, Bonobos was recognized as one of the 50 hottest brands in America by AdAge. Clearly Brian and his teams of fashion forward thinkers know what they are doing.

Here’s a bigger picture description for you, so you can get the whole picture.

Trunk Club Signup

Signing up is simple, and it’s where you start to help them understand not only your personal knowledge of fashion, but also your taste, your dislikes, items you could do without, or items you must have. Their job is to truly grasp who you are at a style level. After all that is done, you are assigned your very own personal stylist. Yes, just like celebrities have… it’s not a robot or a computer it’s an actual live person, who knows their shit, and won’t steer you in the wrong direction.  Your stylist will actually contact you by phone before sending the first box, in order to chisel away any doubts or assumptions. This is what you can expect:

All your stylist will have before contacting you are some items that you picked out of a display, and a label you choose to describe your knowledge or passion about style. Are you: Clueless, Confident, and Aficionado?  These small answers will help your stylist know the best direction to go with you.  This will help them up your sartorial game without pushing you too far, and that is a great thing.  Then, of course they need to know how tall you are, your body shape, weight, etc.  All the things that help them grab clothes that will actually fit you.

Receiving Your Trunk

So, what’s in the box? Let’s just say, you will be quite impressed. Each box comes fully stocked, with everything organized oh so nicely.

The beauty of this box is knowing that everything was carefully chosen for you.  Take a look, try it all on. You choose what you want to keep, and what you want to send back to the Trunk Club offices.  Don’t like any of it? That’s okay too, send it all back and let them try again, no charge to you. A prepaid sticker is included for you to send back anything you’re not keeping.

Trunk Club Cost

Money matters, we know this. So how much is this service going to cost? Well, you pay for what you keep. And, you do pay full retail price. This service isn’t aimed at helping you save money on the clothing you want, but more to help you learn what clothing you want, and help you save time by not having to find it yourself.  So while you may not be able to shop around for the best possible price on each piece of clothing, if you’re a strong believer that “time is money,” then this will indeed save you a good amount of both.

Here’s an example of what a box could entail, and the price tag it could rack up.  Of course, you wouldn’t need to keep everything, which most wouldn’t.  And while this box in total can be worth well over a thousand dollars, you could end up only keeping one $40 v-neck.  It’s like trying things on in the store and not buying them, expect you get to try them on in the comfort of your home.

• Tommy John Cool Cotton Deep V-Neck – $40
• Rodd & Gunn Inchbonnie – $145.00
• New England Shirt Company Trim Navy Linen Shirt – $195
• Fidelity Dark Wash Slim Jim Jeans – $179
• Hartford L/S Henley – $160
• Life After Denim Tournament V-Neck Sweater – $98
• Paige Denim Normandie Japanese Twill Jeans – $179
• Billy Reid “John T.” Shirt – $195
• Sand Sherman 4 Season Blazer – $545
• Tommy John Cool Cotton Trunk – $29

Grand Total: $1,765

Here’s are some visuals to help you get a taste of what we got:

English Shirt Company:

Fidelity Dark Wash Slim Jim Jeans:

Sand Sherman 4 Season Blazer:

While some of these prices may seem steep, you can let them know your budget when you sign up, making sure you won’t fall in love with a jacket you’d have to remortgage your house to keep.

Sending It Back

Trunk Club keeps the whole process simple.  Once you receive your box you have 10 days to try things on and decide what (if anything) you want to keep.  Just make sure you send back the losers within the 10 day timeframe or you’ll be slapped with a bill for the whole box.  And while that will likely be one hell of a wardrobe upgrade, if you aren’t keen on paying for it, it won’t be the nicest surprise.

Trunk Club Recommendation

We love mailing services that allow us to get awesome things we can checkout in our living room.  For a man who needs guidance, time, or a little of both, this is the perfect service.  Even if you don’t keep up Trunk Clubbing forever, even a few months could really enhance the quality of your closet.  If you’re a tee shirt and jeans guy who is finally ready to grow up, but isn’t quite sure where to start, let the stylists at Trunk Club show you the way– or you know, just keep reading Life, Tailored.

The Follow Up

After the box is returned you get a follow up phone call from your personal stylist to see why what worked, worked, and why you returned what you did.  This helps them learn your style and what you’re looking for that much more.  After a few trunks they should have your taste down pretty well, and of course, you can opt out at anytime.  So whether you decide to get one trunk and call it quits, or you become a Trunk Club member for life, you are definitely going to have some heads turning thanks to your new additions to the closet.

Trunk Club, we give you two thumbs up!