Aisha Kamani: Behind The Boohoo Matriarch
Aisha Kamani is the 53-year-old matriarch behind the infamous Kamani family, who collectively own some of the UK’s biggest fashion brands.
Her husband, Mahmud Kamani, owns the Boohoo group which houses brands from Pretty Little Thing to Nasty Gal- some of the biggest fast fashion, female fashion retailers in the business.
Image Source/ Instagram
Family Business: From Rags To Riches
Her husband’s story is very much one of a rags to riches, with a very humble beginning on a market stall, selling handbags and other fashion goods.
Aisha and her husband Mahmud share three boys– Samir (owner of BoohooMan), Adam (CEO of Kamani Property) and brother Umar (owner of PrettyLitttleThing)- each millionaires in their own rights.
Despite his sons’ successes being plastered across social media, the patriarch himself likes to take more of a backseat when it comes to the limelight. He’s actually never given an interview, and has only very recently jumped on the Instagram bandwagon- mainly sharing motivational quotes to his nearly 5k followers.
You don’t have to know Kamani, to know Kamani though. Everyone that speaks of Kamani, speaks of his tunnel-visioned approach to success is what keeps him at the top of the game, despite growing competition:
“The word losing isn’t in my Dad’s vocabulary. He really had to work his backside off but that is what has made him the businessman he is today – he’s been through those hard times.”
Says son Samir, CEO of Boohoo’s subsidiary company, BoohooMAN.
Image Source/ Instagram
The Story Of The Kamani Fashion Empire
Kamani joint forces with Boohoo’s cofounder Carole Kane in the early Nineties, when Kamani was running a Manchester-based business selling handbags to high street retailers.
“Boy, have I never looked back. He’s a force. By the age of 28 she was a company director.”
Together they became renowned for her their ability to provide the goods in a fraction of the time other suppliers could. Already successful, they soon decided to try a new direction- one that would go on to take them from a millionaire to a billionaire business.
Kamani’s forward-thinking, ahead of the game idea to move to online retailing is what can be argued, triggered the online fashion landscape as it is today.
Image Source/ Instagram
Back in 2006, when retail was strictly (for the most part, anyway) high-street, Kamani and his partner, Carole Kane, decided to take a new route and target a new market.
Becoming Boohoo.com
Cofounder Kane spoke of their revolutionary approach to retailing:
“I think it was revolutionary the way we did things. There wasn’t a model to follow.”
Boohoo became characterised by its rapid growth, in 2011 turning over £24m, then soaring to £395m in 2018. Boasting 6.7 million active customers and shipping to 190 countries it has become an established brand, offering low prices for their target audience of girls aged 16-30.
Image Source/ FashionNetworkUK
Their leap to online ultimately catalysed the demise of high-street retailing:
“We had clothes, we knew the customer, all I had to do was to built a website. So we got a tech guy who happened to be in the building and we built our first website for £1500.”
Go Big Or Go Home
Their only issue with startup was their inability to drive traffic organically to their site- how would people stumble across their site from a Google search?
So, Kamani decided to go big, from the start. He delved in to traditional advertising- think billboards, London bus posters, magazine ads- he made sure the Boohoo brand was everywhere you looked, to gain customer trust.
Image Source/ TheSun
Retailers at first questioned their revolutionary approach, doubting the inability to try on the clothes. Kane insisted this new approach was better for the customer- they were able to browse at their leisure, and try on their clothes in the comfort of their own home (without the harsh, unflattering lights of the fitting rooms).
The Demise Of High Street Retailers
A report recently released in the UK shows that 14 stores a day are closing down with fashion outlets particularly suffering.
This shows that online retailers like Boohoo are changing the game one checkout at a time. The pair soon realised that online was where it was at- that’s where their customers were at, given that social media and smartphone use accounts for 75% of Boohoo’s traffic.
Aisha Kamani: Her Role
Although Aisha doesn’t have an official role in the businesses, as per the companies’ websites, she’s very much still a big part of the Kamani brand. Being the matriarch of the unit, she no doubt keeps everything behind the scenes, and at home running smoothly.
As well as helping keep things ticking over in the background, she also very much does her part in reaping the benefits of the family’s success. Posting pictures of her extravagant lifestyle all over her Instagram page, it’s obvious her life now is a far stretch from what it was when she was bringing her boys up in Chrolton, Manchester.
Her son, Adam, speaks of their rather modest and humble upbringing:
“There were 18 of us living in this one house and at times it was like a mad house, but I mean that in a good way. If you fell out with your friends you still had your family and that mentality has been with us since we were born.”
Image Source/ Instagram
The family has always been close-knit and supportive of each other’s goals, which is arguably why they’ve gone on to be such a huge success. Nobody loves, cares or works harder for you than your family, after all…
Adam Kamani admits:
“From a very early age I accepted that I would end up in the family business – it was a great thing, it wasn’t a chore. When all your family are entrepreneurs and business-minded you figure you will go into business.”
Relishing The Success
As for Aisha’s responsibility and role in the family business, she might not necessarily be a big part of the business side, but she certainly enjoys its success.
Holidaying around the world, from Dubai to Los Angeles, Aisha lives the life other 53-year-olds could only dream of. Her sons Umar, Adam and Samir make sure to invite their Mum on all their brands’ press trips, no doubt putting her up in the best hotels around the world. Can you blame them for wanting to treat their Mum who’s brought them up?
Image Source/ TheSun
Aisha parties with some of the biggest names in the business, including the Kardashians and rappers like Kylie Jenner’s ex, Tyga.
Aisha Kamani: Fingers In All The Pies
Despite having unofficial roles in her son Umar Kamani’s PLT empire, or his younger brother Samir’s fashion brands, she is actually joint director of her son Adam’s property business.
As well as being the backbone of the family and their empire, she also holds down some hobbies of her own. Aisha Kamani proves to be quite the musical genius, playing both the piano and saxophone in her spare time.
We can’t fault her for living out her best life, having done her bit in bringing up her boys to be the more-than-successful business men they are.
