Umar Kamani’s second act: From £100 a week to £32mn a day, pioneering fast fashion, and rescuing legacy brands

He pioneered fast fashion online over a decade ago, defying sceptics by manifesting multi-million-pound businesses from little more than an idea. Now at 36, the serial entrepreneur already envisions his next chapter transforming Dubai into a global hub of talent and innovation.

“I’ve now built a successful brand and I can tick that off. The next challenge for me is to find a brand that was great but is now struggling,” Kamani states, leaning forward intensely.

“It’s a bit like a football manager taking a team that’s in a relegation battle. When you start from the beginning, you can build it up all the way. If a football team is in a relegation battle, to turn it around, I think, is another sensation as a businessman and leader and entrepreneur. I think that will give me huge fulfilment to know I could do that. And I believe I can do that and I’m very confident in the vision.”

His strategic clarity reveals a fierce determination to revolutionise the region. “Where others see challenges, I see abundant opportunity, instinctively forging pathways to investment and partnership,” he explains. This gifted ability to confidently conceptualise and execute fuelled his meteoric rise in fashion. Now, it will guide his efforts elevating Dubai.

Kamani sees only the end goal, never doubting his route to get there. “I’d like to look at myself as a man who wants to achieve great things in life… I went on an incredible journey, and I wanted to walk away from it feeling like I had done everything I could have done without compromising the next stage in my life. I’ve got lots of ambitions, lots of dreams, and I feel like it was the right time to step away from that project. And by stepping away, it allowed me to start looking at new projects.”

Kamani first disrupted fast fashion in his early 20s, profoundly grasping customer desires. “I started the company at 24. But every year, I was moving away from our target audience so me, as a leader, had to stay relevant mentally to what they wanted because each year I was getting further away,” he recalls. Detached from personal preferences and emotion, he ruthlessly delivered what young women wanted.

As the brand rapidly expanded, challenges arose in scaling facilities and customer service to match sales.

“There was a year we grew 700 percent, that was a great year. And another year we grew 400 percent, that’s extreme growth and as amazing as it is, the biggest challenge was keeping up with the pace of growth that PrettyLittleThing was experiencing,” Kamani admits. Still, he led PLT to become a prominent force shaping culture and expectations.

“When you’re selling £100 a week, no one knows you, but when you reach £32-33mn turnover in a day, which happened on our biggest day on a Black Friday… when you get to that level you understand that you’re a beast and so what comes with that is we had almost 5,000 staff, so I had to create an infrastructure and system that also fuels their dreams, ambitions, and passions.”

Kamani realised he must create systems fuelling the dreams of thousands, not just pursue aggressive business growth. His priorities evolved towards considerate leadership facilitating happiness.

“One of the things that comes as a leader is considering people’s journeys, ambitions, happiness. The biggest thing for me was I wanted everyone to walk into work happy, leave work happy every day. And I really gave them my best effort to facilitate that. As I grew, it took me through that process as well to grow and develop on my journey.”

“My leadership philosophy was very direct and demanding to start with because I was very inexperienced. Over time, I started to understand and sense my success, and believe in myself more so I was able to work on becoming a better leader… Since I’ve stepped down from PrettyLittleThing, I’m still developing my personal emotional intelligence, still trying to become a more considerate leader,” Kamani states.

Now, Kamani is ready for fresh challenges having proof of his abilities. While leading PLT remains his proudest achievement yet, new ambitions call him. Kamani wants to demonstrate his talent reviving struggling legacy brands, injecting them with a youthful spirit.

“There’s a lot of amazing legacy brands out there and over the last couple of years, unfortunately, the economic climate has challenged them and some of them are unfortunately struggling to survive. It’s a real passion project for me.”

He lives for short, intense bursts of change. Just as starting PLT checked one box, turning around a languishing brand represents another conquest. Kamani compares this passion project to taking a relegation-threatened football club back to dominance. By acquiring and reinvigorating a heritage label, he can satisfy his relentless appetite for reinvention. “For me it’s to get the job done… I have short blasts of wanting to change and make change,” he says.

Kamani’s move to Dubai was not about just lifestyle or business, but a deeper desire to shape the region’s future. He aims to bring his talents for ecosystem building to catalyse Dubai’s immense drive and potential.

“I recently moved to the Middle East and I’m very proud to live here. And I’d love to be part of a project that also helps bring some great brands over to the Middle East,” Kamani shares. He sees ample room for elevating Dubai’s booming success to the next level. “I want to be part of the change to go into deeper ecosystem building.”

He wants to attract the world’s best – brands, companies, experts, celebrities – to drive innovation and culture. “If you have to look at every country as a business, Dubai just wipes the floor with the world. And it’s so fun and exciting to watch and learn from as well.”

Kamani observes vast opportunity for global brands to consider regional headquarters in Dubai, which would in turn produce creative jobs and economic impact. “I’m going to be buying either one or several brands. Where I choose to locate them is a question mark, but I will definitely be strongly considering bringing these brands to the Middle East, to the region, trying to set up a whole ecosystem here and working with the governments to try and help create an ecosystem also.”

As Kamani outlines his ambitions, two things become clear – his relentless drive continues unabated, and his confidence in achieving outcomes has only multiplied. The proven visionary has a clear picture of his next goals. He will waste no time applying his talents to shape Dubai as a hub of talent, technology and creativity. Kamani sees avenues to elevate Dubai that others overlook, and knows precisely how to develop them.

His revolutionary plans will catalyse greater integration between regional interests and global talent. “Currently, [talent’s relationship with Dubai] seems to me it’s like very transactional, super transactional. And I want to get through that… I want to get in there and come up with a plan with everyone to try and make this much more integrated,” Kamani states.

As he explains endeavours spanning acquired brands, talent management, real estate and development, his record of flawless execution breeds faith. “A couple of months ago, I started a PR company, based out in London, with Chris Woodward…Myself and Naomi Campbell are in the process now of starting the talent management company,” Kamani reveals exclusively to Arabian Business.

“I’m not starting this company to try and make loads of money. I’m starting this company to try and make a change to something that I see that isn’t quite correct, in my opinion.”
Dubai’s explosive growth and vast potential has captured Kamani’s imagination completely. “I see the amazing things that are being developed. I see the quality of life here… Dubai, Abu Dhabi and the region have so much more to offer than just going and sitting on a beach all day. There’s so much more to this place.”

Kamani does nothing half-heartedly. He pours his full focus into bettering whatever attracts his attention. From leading PLT to acquiring legacy brands to reimagining Dubai’s talent ecosystem, Kamani’s philosophy remains consistent – manifest the boldest vision through direct, decisive action.

“I had a huge point to prove to myself because I also come from a family of success. The biggest battle for me was proving this to myself. Am I good enough to do what I think I can do? I always believed I was good enough but whether I could actually execute what I said I was going to execute… that was one of my biggest battles,” he reflects on earlier motivation.

The restless virtuoso has already left an indelible mark revolutionising online fast fashion. As Kamani turns his sights to Dubai, one thing is certain – the ambitious pacesetter will waste no time pioneering the next evolution.

His leadership philosophy may have softened over the years, but Kamani’s determination to reshape industries has only intensified. “I was growing, as a person, as a young man,” he says of his evolution from a demanding young CEO to a more considerate leader focused on fostering happiness.

Now fuelled by a desire to integrate talent, innovation, and economic impact across the UAE, Kamani attacks his next ambitions with the same vigour that powered PrettyLittleThing’s exponential growth. With a vision for catalysing the region’s boundless potential, the dynamic entrepreneur is ready to reinvent himself once again on a larger stage.

“I see what’s going on here. I see the amazing things that are being developed. I see the quality of life here,” Kamani states, his enthusiasm palpable. Armed with proof of his ability to manifest success, the seasoned visionary has the confidence to transform Dubai into a global cornerstone of culture and business.

From pioneer of online fast fashion to ambitious catalyst for the Middle East’s next evolution, Kamani has a relentless drive to not just disrupt industries, but reshape entire realms of possibility. Kamani’s impact until now has been immense, but his impact on Dubai and the UAE is only just beginning.