In August 2023, we received an email from a customer asking whether we sold matching aprons for couples. They wanted to buy two Gaucho BBQ Grill Aprons as a joint gift for themselves — one for each of them — and wanted to know if there was a paired option. At that point, there wasn’t.
The question sat with us. We pulled our order data and looked at how many orders were shipping two aprons to the same address within a short window. The number was 18%. That’s nearly one in five orders — almost certainly couples buying for themselves, or someone gifting a pair. We hadn’t thought about it that way before, but the data had been telling us something we hadn’t stopped to hear.
A Product Gap We Hadn’t Seen
The Gaucho had always been positioned as a single product at £75. If someone wanted two, they paid £150. That’s a reasonable price for two premium 12oz heavy denim aprons — but it’s also a barrier when the purchase intent is a couples’ gift. There’s something about a bundle that changes the decision. It frames the purchase differently. It says: this is designed for both of you, together.
We looked at what it would take to create a Couple’s Gaucho product. The answer was straightforward. The aprons themselves didn’t need to change. The 12oz denim, the eight utility features, the Protected Design — all identical. What we were really building was a packaging and pricing decision. Two matching aprons, presented together, at a price that made the pair feel like a considered purchase rather than two separate orders.
What Launched in September 2023
The Couple’s Gaucho Aprons launched September 2023 at £100 for the pair. Against the £150 you’d pay buying individually, that’s a meaningful saving — £50 off for a product that’s clearly designed to be bought as a two. Same denim. Same features. Same quality. Just packaged and priced to reflect what a significant portion of our customers were already doing anyway.
There was no new development cost, no new tooling, no new supplier negotiation. The hard work had been done when the original Gaucho was designed. This was about reading what customers were actually doing with the product and giving it a proper home in the range.
The Lesson
The Couple’s Aprons exist because one customer asked a question and we looked at the data honestly. We weren’t planning this product. We didn’t have it on a roadmap. A single email prompted a review of order patterns that revealed a behaviour we should have noticed earlier.
The lesson isn’t complicated: listen to what customers are actually doing with your products, not just what you assumed they would do. The 18% who were already buying pairs weren’t doing it because we offered a couples’ option. They were doing it despite us not offering one. That’s a signal worth acting on.
