How Damson Madder’s Emma Hill Built a £31 Million Business in 5 Years

It’s hard to reconcile becoming a more responsible brand with reaching Damson Madder’s current level of scale, but Hill has appointed a sustainability director to help her achieve the brand’s responsibility goals.

Damson Madder hired a sustainability director last year to help it move into the next phase. They are in “continuous engagement” with the factory and will complete the brand’s first sustainability impact report this April, which will explain more about the brand’s production practices. “This will help us assess [sustainability] Improve it year by year and set the standard,” Hill said.

Targeting the United States

Despite the viral hit the brand has taken over the past two years, Hill isn’t worried about consumers moving on because “Damson,” as she calls it, is built on a strong community of brand fans and influencers. Community pop-ups are a key driver of business. The brand has held multiple events over the past six years, starting in London in February 2024 and hosting its first pop-up store in New York in 2024 as a market launch. While Hill “expected it to be dead,” the queues continued to line up, “hundreds of people.”

Celebrity placements have also boosted sales, especially in the United States, the brand’s fastest-growing market and a focus area in 2026. Eight months ago, when Olivia Rodrigo wore a Damson Madder Bora dress, all 400 pieces sold out in one day. Rodrigo doesn’t even tag the brand.

The United States accounts for 25% of Damson Madder’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) business, but 60% of its wholesale business. Hill said that after opening its first pop-up store in New York, sales on the brand’s website increased by more than 600%. The momentum continues: Last September, the brand co-hosted a launch event in New York with local grassroots chess community Club Chess, where chess players wore the brand for matches. Hill said the brand will hold its first West Coast event in Los Angeles in April, with a mid-summer theme focusing on swim and sunglasses.

Of course, growing in the U.S. means being more exposed to Trump’s trade tariffs. With the addition of a new head of wholesale in JW Anderson, Damson Madder is focusing on growing the wholesale business rather than DTC. The brand also continues to run paid advertising and is still seeing a return on investment despite taking tariffs into account. The biggest challenge is maintaining the brand DNA as it expands internationally. “We want to go global without compromising our vision or values,” Hill said. “I see brands being diluted just to fit the market. That’s not what we want to do.”