About Ruler of London

The idea for Ruler of London started with a made-up word. That word is 'shorso', a mixture of 'short' and 'torso'. My wife made it up, or at least she claims she did. I googled it and she might be right. Either way, she won the argument.

Often when buying a new top, she'd complain it was cut too long. 'I've got a shorso,' she said, 'legs are fine, torso's short.' When she said that I realised I often had the same problem. I'd buy a t-shirt or a sweater and it would bunch up unattractively around my hips. Stores didn't always have my length in trousers. Then I started noticing the little warning on sites like ASOS. Model is 6'2. Well no wonder it doesn't fit, I thought, given he's 5 inches taller than me and somehow still wearing a medium.

For men under 5'10 like me, you have a few options, and they're not great. You can buy and get your clothes tailored (expensive). You can brute-force it and buy lots of clothes, then return or abandon (wasteful, time-consuming). Or you can hunt the internet high and low, trying to find 'short' sizes or trousers at the far end of the size drop-down. And, if you're very lucky, they'll be in stock.

Ruler of London was my solution to this. If you're a man under 5'10, it was to be the place for high-quality clothing.

You have to make some interesting choices when starting a clothing brand. What type of fabric should I use? What packaging? Where should I manufacture? In the end I decided I didn't really want to compromise. Using the best cotton and trying to be sustainable made sense: this was about buying once, and buying well. I also wanted to get clothes made to a high quality in the UK and Europe. It is slightly more expensive, but it's good to have the skills right here, and it's a bit greener too.

If you're wondering about the name, here goes. The 'Ruler' bit relates to sizing, to tailoring clothes. The London bit relates to London, where we're headquartered. And overall it's supposed to be confident, straightforward, quality. Maybe a bit provocative. When we started, googling 'Ruler of London' returned the King of England. So that's some strong competition.

One day, I want to stock everything you can possibly imagine for men under 5'10. I hope you like what we've created, and I'd love to hear any new ideas you might have. 

Jack, Founder of Ruler of London