An Exeter-based company behind a new lifestyle brand has been established with a business model that gives 10 per cent back to charity.

RULE is to launch the first of its products later this month – a range of custom-built Style Bikes, from which 10 per cent of the profits made, will go to support injured Royal Marines.

They are aimed at the upwardly mobile cyclist seeking a bespoke model to convey them from A to B.

Emblazoned with a distinctive swan emblem – which RULE's founder and managing director Adam Houlding hopes will become as iconic as the Rolls Royce Spirit of Ecstasy – the bikes are assembled to order in Devon from a choice of hundreds of different parts.

Mr Houlding, who relocated to Devon from London a year ago, said: "Our view is that you don't go into a shop and buy a whole outfit – and that was part of the vision."

The custom-models – or Supremes – will cost from £545, while RULE is also forging links with cutting-edge fashion houses to produce designer bikes in limited edition of no more than 100, which will sell for around £1,000. Fashion house PPQ is behind the first design for the brand.

Lympstone-based based Royal Marines support charity C-Group will receive the 10 per cent of profits generated by sales of all adult Style Bikes, with other charities also set to benefit from RULE's other branded products, as they come online. The business, which has 10 staff, also allows employees to devote 10 per cent of their working week to charitable or community projects close to their heart. It also has a 'family-centric' policy, which it says ensures that the business revolves around the priorities of its employees and their family responsibilities.

RULE, which is based at Exeter Airport's Merlin Business Park, is also offering employment and self-employment opportunities to Royal Marines facing the daunting prospect of leaving the Corps.

Mr Houlding said: "Our view is that a business should not only profit its bottom line and shareholders, but the community at large. It adds another dimension to life – we want to be building cathedrals, not chipping away at gargoyles."

RULE is one of two companies to make up the RULE GB group and has been registered as a lifestyle brand covering an entire spectrum of leisure and fashion goods. Sister company GB will offer B2B services, to be rolled out later this year.

RULE’s management team, who have self-financed the start-up, include City troubleshooter and Admiral Taverns chief executive Jonathan Paveley, as company chairman.