Every inch of Umar Kamani’s sprawling office is a different shade of garish, improbable pink.
The rooms are pink, the retro-style telephones are very pink, and motivational messages imploring staff working at his online clothing giant, Pretty Little Thing, to channel ‘good vibes only’ are blazoned across the walls in neon candy hues.
A gigantic winged unicorn in one corner has been artfully dressed for the festive season in a series of oversized pink bows and strings of glittering diamante.
Subtlety, it seems, has no place here, in the headquarters for what has swiftly become a global retail phenomenon.
Umar Kamani, pictured with Tulisa Contostavlos, is regularly seen mixing with celebrities
However, he always credits his family – and particularly his father, Mahmud – with his work ethic.
His grandparents, who were originally from India, arrived in Manchester from Kenya in 1969 when his father was just two years old.
Mahmud’s career began in the rag trade with a market stall selling handbags. But he invested his money wisely in property and began a wholesale business, Pinstripe, sourcing garments from India.
By the early 2000s, the company was selling £50 million-worth a year to high street brands such as Topshop and Primark, which led to Mahmud setting up the Boohoo brand in 2006.
The family lived in a large home in Chorlton, Greater Manchester, with several generations – grandparents, uncles, cousins – all under the same roof.
The Boohoo brand is now worth £3.7billion and has sponsored ITV2 reality show Love Island.
But Mahmud was determined his children should not be spoiled – and made sure to instil a strong work ethic in Umar and his younger brothers, Adam and Samir.
Umar Kamani credits his family, pictured, with the work ethic that has helped build his success
‘At the time I didn’t understand,’ Kamani admits. ‘Dad used to shout at us, wake us up, bang on our doors like a headmaster. He said we should get up early and get our minds working.
‘All those things he drilled into us have been worth it for me and my brothers – none of us put our feet up, ever.’
Still, it is clear Kamani has always had his own ideas. He was expelled from £12,000-a-year Stockport Grammar School for being ‘rebellious’, which led to a stint at Rydal Penrhos boarding school in Wales.
The discipline and self-sufficiency he learned there put him ‘in very good stead’, he admits – he had to ‘get his own milk’ and ‘polish my own shoes’ for the first time.
‘There were 19 of us at home,’ he shrugs. ‘There was always someone to do things for you.’
He later studied business at Manchester Metropolitan University but remarkably, he admits he never took his degree – and even mocked up his graduation photograph to give his parents the picture they’d always wanted.
‘In my third year I got really into going to the gym and stopped going to uni, but Indian parents are very proud,’ he says.
Mahmud Kamani, pictured right, alongside his son, didn’t want to spoil his children, but helped them set up Pretty Little Thing
‘I knew my mum wanted that photo of me in a gown and hat so I thought the best thing to do would be to hire a costume and get someone to come and take the pictures.
‘Then I told my parents that graduation day was when I knew they would be away. I didn’t admit it for about two years.
‘The picture is still there, though, because my mum likes to show off.’
While Mahmud may not have wanted to spoil his children, he did help Kamani set up PLT with a multi-million pound gift. But it was Umar who grew the brand, aiming at girls and women between 14 and 24.
In the beginning, the website received only one order a week. But within a few years the website was supplemented by an app, and Kamani had tapped into the US market and a new world of celebrity endorsement.
There are now PLT offices around the world in LA, Miami, New York and Paris.
‘I want to keep moving forward,’ he says. ‘If I just took what my father gave me and didn’t grow or move forward then I would feel like a failure.
‘My biggest fear is failing, so going teetotal has kept me sober. I want to be an inspiration for young people, to give them dreams and ambition, so I have a responsibility to behave properly.
‘I used to go out and really enjoy myself but the bigger the business has got, the more I have to tighten the bolts.’