The White Company is a multi-channel retailer who specialises in supplying an incredibly stylish collection for the home, principally in white.

The White Company Story

In The White Company's 10th anniversary year, the company that began life as a 12 page mail-order brochure has become one of the UK's fastest growing multi-channel retailers. With over 380,000 mail-order customers, The White Company produce 10 brochures a year, operate a highly successful website and have opened 7 beautiful stores throughout the country.

Where The Idea Originally Came From

The idea for the company began in August 1993, when The White Company's founder, Christian Rucker, spotted a gap in the market for white home accessories. Chrissie and her husband Nick Wheeler were staying with his sister Susie who had just moved house and the conversation soon came around to "kitting" it out. Everybody commented on how they all preferred white and were surprised at how difficult it was to find a full range of "white" under one roof. Nick, who runs a leading mail-order company (Charles Tyrwhitt Shirts), suggested that mail-order would offer a national market without the retail premises overheads. So the idea of white and mail-order were merged, the next step was to make it happen. Initially, Chrissie contacted trade show organisers and requested as many past show catalogues as she could lay her hands on. In all she wrote about 500 letters and by December 1993, 70% of the first suppliers were secured. To raise capital she gained a grant from Hammersmith and Fulham's CENTEC scheme and sold some shares her grandmother had left her. In January she resigned from her job as Assistant Health and Beauty Editor on Harpers & Queen and spent the next three months sourcing the remaining suppliers and putting together the first brochure. It was 12 pages and photographed in a friends house on borrowed beds from Simon Horn.

The White Company - Only the Finest Quality at Outstanding Value

The White Company's key aim is and always has been to supply only the finest "designer" quality at outstanding value for money. To achieve this, The White Company only buy direct from the best factories in the world - many of which also supply leading "designer" names. However the important difference being, that the "designers" bedspread will be sold for 250 - whereas The White Company bedspread - of exactly the same quality - will be sold for 90 for example.

The White Company Product Range Today

The range of products The White Company offers has broadened enormously from just a few ranges of bed linen and towels to a complete lifestyle range. Almost every item is made exclusively for The White Company and favourites today include easy jersey clothing and nightwear for adults and children. Egyptian cotton bed linen, huge luxury bath towels and bathrobes, scented candles, a stunning range of "chef style" white china, table linen, glassware and cutlery. Plus bedspreads, blankets, throws, bathroom accessories, own brand bathroom toiletries and of course all the linen cupboard essentials such as duvets, pillows, fitted sheets and mattress protectors. The development of new products has evolved over the last 10 years and is something that is very personal to Chrissie. As her life has grown and changed - so to has the product range. A good example of this being the launch of The Little White Company, following the arrival of her first baby! The White Company continues to, and always will focus on selling white. However, in-order to create seasonality in the stores and brochures - some coloured items have now also been introduced - but only ones that look perfect with white!