Tailored menswear clothing startup raises £500k investment

The Drop, a London-based startup which allows men to purchase custom-made clothing on demand, has raised £500k in seed funding.

The round was led by Sir John Hegarty’s The Garage Soho. Co-investors in the round included angel Paddy Byng, former SVP of Marketing at Ralph Lauren and former CEO of Smythson and Linley.

The Drop was founded in 2016 by Jonathan Kruger, a former clothing industry executive, along with Stephen Stroud, a senior software developer with a background in disruptive VC backed startups.

On founding the business, Kruger and Stroud wanted to tackle the fact that traditional retail models concentrate on producing large volumes of garments in standardised and ill-fitting sizes.

Jonathan Kruger said: “This latest investment marks the next step in our journey to make custom-made menswear available to all at an affordable price - we want to offer a better product, in a better fit than they could access on the UK high street.”

The Drop’s technology is said to help the customer buy exactly what they’re after, made to measure and delivered anywhere globally in less than three weeks.

The Drop is also aiming to make menswear more sustainable. By manufacturing garments on demand, they are able to avoid the huge level of waste produced by traditional clothing retailers, which often ends up in landfill or going to the incinerator.

Sir John Hegarty added: “The Garage team are excited to back Jonathan and Stephen and their talented team in building the future of menswear.

“This fundraise underlines the huge future growth potential of The Drop and the opportunity it represents to make better fitting clothing, more sustainably.”