30 under 30: Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton declares his biggest lesson learnt in his career is to always have self-belief and determination. “Take a risk and don’t accept somebody saying you can’t do something or aren’t ready for it. If you believe you are, go for it and learn from mistakes.”

Hamilton began his career as a fitting room boy at Topman in Milton Keynes, where he progressed to deputy store manager. He was then chosen for Topman owner Arcadia’s graduate management and training course, and helped with email marketing for two weeks. “I loved the head office experience and was determined to remain there. My two-week placement became a fantastic six-year experience with the Topman.com team.”

During that time the website became Topman’s largest store. Hamilton helped to set up and run its social channels, managed the digital representation of its London Fashion Week shows and assisted with the launch of Topman.com in the US.

It wasn’t long before the luxury sector noticed his talent, and Hackett came knocking in 2011. “This was something that added to my ecommerce experience greatly - there is such a difference between high street and luxury,” he says of the switch. There he brought eCRM in-house from previously being outsourced to an agency, managed all content, worked closely with head of ecommerce Gary Wilson to launch a new website on a new platform, and helped to improve photography standards. This then led to his role at Duchamp London in January 2013.

Brand director Alison Psarolis says Hamilton has a great track record and continues to excel at Duchamp.