‘What’s stopping me?’ Bonk takes a loud swing with Crossroads streetwear store, Midwest grit

It began with Mason Barry’s search for the perfect black and white checkered sweatsuit. When nothing fit his expectations for design or quality, the Kansas City creative launched his own streetwear brand — featuring bold apparel that already is gaining a foothold in trendy fashion hubs from Brooklyn to Portland.

Mason Barry, Bonk Supply; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News

Bonk Supply — a brand Barry describes as outrageous and fun with a little Midwestern grit — just opened a brick-and-mortar store at 1620 Locust St., suite 500, in the East Crossroads. The business launched online in early 2024.

“I have a graphic design degree, a marketing background and some free time,” Barry explained. “I was making a decent enough of a margin that I could reinvest the money and start growing something. And Bonk Supply has continued to get more and more out of hand — in a good way.”

Each apparel collection from Bonk embodies the idea of having fun and enjoying life as long as a person can, he said.

“It’s well-built stuff that’s playful and thoughtful,” Barry continued. “I think there is a spirit of trying to balance really overstated stuff that’s somehow still minimal. Trying to find the line between what’s too much — and then somehow it’s still stable — even though it’s loud.”

The pieces are unique, limited, and made with high-quality materials at an accessible price, he noted; plus most feature pockets, part of the Midwest sensibility.

“I fantasize 10 years from now about finding one of these items that’s in a thrift shop and it’s just held up really well,” Barry explained. “It’s worn in a great way. I want things to be able to be passed on.”

A Bonk billboard in the East Crossroads; courtesy photo

Looks good on a billboard

In mid-2023, Barry received a “bonk” on the head that led him down his entrepreneurship journey, he shared. He quit his 9-to-5 job as a lead animator with Kansas City-based Whiskey Design. He was still doing freelance work, but started contemplating what he wanted to accomplish in his last couple of years before turning 30.

“All the older and wiser voices that I hear say, ‘Your 20s are for trying as many things as possible and seeing what sticks and just do it,’” he recalled. “So I felt like I had this fire under my butt, and it just motivated me.”

Around that time, he saw TikTok videos about the designing and manufacturing process for clothes; he also was hunting that checkered sweatsuit — with a very specific set of materials in mind.

“I wanted the print to be larger than what I was seeing on the market,” he continued. “So I decided, ‘I’m going to get it made.’ I reached out to three manufacturers, got samples, and ordered. Two of the suits sucked, and one of them was amazing.”

That got Barry thinking: What would building a Kansas City-based brand that makes luxury checkered sweatsuits look like?

He designed the first piece in fall 2023. By November, he’d finished and ordered production for the whole collection. Barry’s first shipment arrived in February 2024.

“I realized that (the process) was actually really fulfilling and fun and creative,” he added.

“Bonk Supply,” as a name, is built-in marketing, he said. It frequently prompts people to ask him to explain — but it got their attention, he noted.

“Luxury brands take themselves so seriously,” Barry said. “We’re out of the Midwest. We’re kind of the new kids on the block. The letters look good big on a billboard. They sit in your mind. It’s something you can remember.”

“Then you can go into the philosophy of what even started it,” he continued. “I was just like, ‘What am I living for? What am I doing? What do I want my career to be? What’s stopping me from doing that?’ And that’s the bonk on the head that you need to wake up and live the life that you want to live because you’re not here that long.”

A brand that travels

Barry started selling his Bonk designs online in 2024, and while a lot of the sales come from Kansas City, the brand’s biggest markets are large metros like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Austin, Texas.

“It is almost hilarious how many orders we get from Brooklyn, New York, though,” he continued. “I’m happy that community is rocking Bonk. I think that that’s a good sign. I want to know what’s going on over there, if there’s some popular dive bar or something that has our stickers everywhere.”

“Some of our best repeat customers are there and I don’t know if they know each other,” he added. “I don’t know if they’re just fascinated by this weird Midwestern brand called Bonk that’s trying to make their own trends and paying attention to trends. But I think it’s a good sign.”

“I haven’t traveled as much as I probably should’ve at my age,” he added, “but in my mind, these places are cool.”

Stitching into the Crossroads

Moving the business out of his basement and into the Crossroads storefront is Phase 2 for Bonk, Barry shared. On July 4, he organized a soft opening for the space, although it’s still a work in progress. 

“Week over week, we’ve had more and more people and more and more sales in store,” he added.

Once SBA funds come through, Barry noted, he’s allocated money for expenses like adding a big sign on the building, producing more stock, and hosting a big grand opening party. 

“The space isn’t exactly what I want it to be yet,” he explained. “But I have a plan that’s going to make this place feel even more special.”

He also hopes to buy a trailer to travel for popup events, as well as lean into more special apparel drops, like a Bonk-style skull tee for Halloween, he added.

Barry already enjoys being surrounded by the small business grit of the East Crossroads, he said.

“There is an authenticity here,” he explained, noting the mix of homegrown retail shops, breweries, and other small businesses. “Trying to share a unique product with the local, Midwest audience here is inspiring. It’s an energy that’s contagious and healthy for everyone involved.”

Mason Barry inside Bonk Supply in the East Crossroads; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News

More in store for Bonk

Growing up in Warrensburg, Missouri, Barry didn’t venture to downtown Kansas City much, he recalled. But he remembers seeing the skyline off in the distance from places like Independence and wondering what was going happening beneath the tall buildings and city lights. 

“Now to have a store down here in downtown, basically,” he continued, “it feels like something that the younger version of me almost wouldn’t believe, in the best way possible. Now that I’m here, I’m super grateful.”

Barry hopes his Bonk retail space blossoms into a hub for the creative community like MADE MOBB already has in the West Crossroads, he said.

“MADE MOBB has done a really good job of accelerating the community mindset here in Kansas City,” he explained. “I would love to do that, just a different flavor and in a slightly different area.”

Once Barry gets more established, he wants to employ design students and maybe even have an artist in residence program, he noted.

“It’s about highlighting the creative community here in Kansas City,” he continued. “It’s basically all my friends. When you support Bonk, that’s what you’re ideally supporting: the creatives who are looking to make a living in a sustainable way.”