Umar Kamani (born 21 March 1988) is an English fashion retailer and businessman. At 24, Kamani and his brother Adam co-founded a fashion firm and online retail company selling clothing, accessories and other items to women mainly aged between 12 and 25, "PrettyLittleThing.com."

Career

Boohoo.com

In 2006, Kamani began working in the family business as a manager at

Boohoo.com Boohoo Group plc is a British online fashion retailer, aimed at 16–30 year olds. The business was founded in 2006, and had sales in 2019 of £856.9 million. It specialises in own brand fashion clothing, with over 36,000 products. Growing rapid ...

. In 2014, Boohoo debuted on the

Alternative Investment Market AIM (formerly the Alternative Investment Market) is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange that was launched on 19 June 1995 as a replacement to the previous Unlisted Securities Market (USM) that had been in operation since 1980. It allows ...

with a market value of £560 million. This float was a major contribution to the Kamani family's wealth. In September 2016, analysts began speculating that Boohoo.com would acquire PrettyLittleThing after reviewing Boohoo's financials, which showed a 40% increase in turnover to £127.3 million for the half year which ended in August 2016.

PrettyLittleThing.com

Brothers Umar and

Adam Kamani Adam Kamani (born June 1989) is a British businessman. He is chief executive of the Kamani Property Group and KM Capital, and co-founder of PrettyLittleThing. Kamani grew up in Chorlton. Kamani's grandfather, Abdullah Kamani, left Kenya in the ...

co-founded PrettyLittleThing.com in January 2012. By the middle of 2013, celebrities including

Miley Cyrus Miley Ray Cyrus ( ; born Destiny Hope Cyrus on November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her distinctive raspy voice, her music spans across varied styles and genres, including pop, country, rock, hip hop ...

, Michelle Keegan, Rita Ora,

Jessie J Jessica Ellen Cornish (born 27 March 1988), known professionally as Jessie J, is an English singer. Born and raised in London, she began her career on stage, aged 11, with a role in the West End musical '' Whistle Down the Wind''. She studied ...

, Ryan Thomas and

Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (; born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian-born rapper based in the United States. She is known for her musical versatility, animated flow in her rapping, alter egos and accent ...

had been seen wearing clothing from their rapidly growing fashion retailer. 66% of the company was acquired by Boohoo for £3.3 million in December 2016. The PrettyLittleThing.com team grew from 65 to 300 employees from 2014 to the end of 2015. This increase was to accommodate the workload influx from fulfilling 20 orders a day in 2014 to shipping 20,000 parcels a day by the middle of 2015. Additionally Umar reported a 500% increase in full-year sales to £30 million. In 2016, PrettyLittleThing opened their flagship USA location in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The launch party was hosted by

Kylie Jenner Kylie Kristen Jenner (born August 10, 1997) is an American media personality, socialite, and businesswoman. She starred in the E! reality television series ''Keeping Up with the Kardashians'' from 2007 to 2021 and is the founder and owner of ...

. In May 2020, Kamani sold his 34 per cent remaining stake in PrettyLittleThing.com to BooHoo for £330 million. The deal gave him £161 million in cash and a stake worth roughly 2.6 percent in Boohoo. In April 2023, Kamani announced he was stepping down as Chief Executive at PrettyLittleThing.com.

Personal life

Kamani married British-Moroccan model Nada Adelle in May 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kamani, Umar Living people 1988 births British businesspeople of Indian descent British people of Gujarati descent British retail company founders Businesspeople from Manchester

Umar ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate o ...