Mahmud Abdullah Kamani is a British-Indian businessman and billionaire. He is the co-founder and joint CEO of the UK-based fast fashion brand Boohoo.
Kamani is a second-generation clothing company owner. His sons, Umar and Adam Kamani, also founded their own fast fashion brand PrettyLittleThing.
The Boohoo owner won Entrepreneur of the year at the 2013 English Asian Business Awards. In 2015, he received a Legends of Industry Award.
Mahmud Kamani makes Boohoo a success
In 2006, Kamani founded Boohoo with his business partner and co-chief executive Carol Kane. Kamani’s family has a business sourcing and selling garments to fashion brands. Boohoo started with the intention of selling to customers directly instead.
Kane set up an online store in the early days of the internet to sell Boohoo’s signature inexpensive clothing. The company began in a Manchester warehouse with only three employees. By 2017, Boohoo employed over 1,400. The brand now sells to millions of customers in 200 countries.
In March 2014 Boohoo opened up shares on the stock market with its initial public offering. In 2020 the company was valued at $4.3 billion. Kamani worked as joint chief executive until 2019, before he switched to executive chairman. Kane remains Executive Director.
“Some people like golf, others like football. I like work. People need a sense of self-worth and work provides that. Work is good for your soul,” Kamani told The Mail.
Mahmud Kamani’s Father sold textiles
Kamani was born in 1964 in Kenya, as one of four children. His family is from Gujarat, India. In the 1960s, the family immigrated to the UK.
After settling in Manchester, Kamani’s father Abdullah began selling handbags as a market vendor. He later founded Pinstripe, a wholesale textile business. The entrepreneur sourced textiles from India by using family connections. He then sold the garments to high-street fashion brands including Primark and New Look.
“It was a case of rags to riches for my dad,” Kamani told The Guardian. “My father is 80 and comes into work every day.”
Kamani worked for his father, making deliveries in a van. Pinstripe hired Kane, then a fresh graduate of fashion design, in 1993. She established Pinstripe’s design team before co-founding Boohoo.
Kamani is married to his wife, Aisha, and has three sons: Umar, Adam, and Samir. Umar and Adam also worked for their father’s fashion business.
Mahmud Kamani founds Boohoo: The clothing company
Boohoo makes a point of speedily designing, producing, and selling fast-moving fashion trends at low prices. Inspiration often comes from celebrities and social media trends. The business owns factories in Leicester, London, and Manchester to shorten shipping and distribution times. To be in full control of their prices, Boohoo only sells the brands it owns. the brands it owns.
“We worked hard when we were on the market stalls; we work hard now,” Kamani said. “It’s what we’ve always done. I don’t have another hobby or life. I want to walk into my office an old man.”
The fashion company buys out high street fashion brands to add to its success. Boohoo bought both online retailers Karen Millen and Coast in 2019 for £18 million. The company acquired the American online fashion store Nasty Gal in 2017. Other brands include MissPap, Warehouse, and Burton.
In 2012 Kamani’s sons Adam and Umar founded their own fashion company, PrettyLittleThing. Boohoo bought a 66% stake in the company in 2017 and acquired the rest in 2020 for £324 million. Kamani’s youngest son, Samir, runs the company’s menswear brand, BoohooMan.
Shop BooHoo here.
