Online menswear brand Spoke bags $1.8m

Spoke, an online menswear brand, has secured $1.8m in funding led by Oxford Capital, with participation from Forward Partners, Seedcamp and a number of angel investors.

Launched in 2014, Spoke is a menswear brand focused on good fit, that cuts clothes in more sizes and finishes them to order. Founder Ben Farren, an “average size” man, decided that if finding the right fit was “purgatory” for him, “it must be bad for everyone”.

The company claims to have seen five-fold growth over 2015 and trebled revenues in the first half of 2016. To date, Spoke has sold more than 30,000 pairs of chinos in 30 countries around the world.

The funding will be used to grow the brand’s product range and to extend its reach to more consumers around the world.

Farren commneted: “At Spoke, we’re using a digital platform to build a better, smarter menswear brand. We think that fit comes first, and that traditional retailers and brands do a terrible job of delivering it.

“We’re hugely excited by the difference we can make in men’s fashion – and this investment will allow us to bring our fit focus to new product categories, and expand the reach of our marketing to a host of new customers.”

Nic Brisbourne, founding partner at Forward Partners, commented: “We’re very pleased to further invest in Farren and his talented team at Spoke. This fundraise underlines the huge future growth potential of Spoke in global markets and Farren’s skill as an entrepreneur.”