Is TikTok the new frontier for fashion reinvention?

Are CVs out and TikTok pitches in?

Designer and content creator Alexei Hamblin has put it to the test.

The 23-year-old began a video series on the platform in 2025, where he suggested how he would revamp "dead" sports brands he had found in retail chain Sports Direct.

It generatedhundreds of thousands of views and also got the attention of the retailer's owner, Frasers Group, which invited Hamblin to come and meet with their team.

He tells BBC Newsbeat that he expected to receive a cease and desist letter from the retail giant after describing some of the clothes as "boring" and "tacky PE kit".

Instead, he was brought on as a consultant after he pitched his vision of how they could reinvent legacy sports brand Slazenger.

He says he was drawn to reinventing Slazenger because of its "interesting history", but that his generation didn't know what it stood for.

Founded by brothers Ralph and Albert Slazenger in 1881, the brand became a go-to for golf and tennis equipment and was appointed the official ball supplier for Wimbledon in 1902.

Hamblin says his plan for the new sub-line he is helping to create, due out in the spring, is "premium sportswear-inspired fashion".

Asked whether this reinvention will make the affordable sportswear brand less accessible, Hamblin says this isn't the intention.

"I wouldn't want to take away the everyman, working-class accessibility of the brand," he says.

"But I do feel like a brand with such heritage needs to have a more modern reflection of what that is, as well as accessibility."

He says the "premium line" he is working on will sit alongside the brand's more affordable options and be for those who would "rather spend a bit more money and want something higher quality".

Hamblin, who hasn't been to fashion school, says he became interested in how fashion helps people find their "identity".

He taught himself to use digital tools, such as Photoshop, to design clothes he would want to wear and shared the ideas on TikTok.

He went on to freelance for clothing companies and start-ups before launching his own brand in 2021.

Jumping from that, to being given responsibility for a new line from a well-known company, would appear daunting to many, but Hamblin says he is "deluded enough to not really feel the pressure".

And he says his age helped get his foot in the door.

"I am Gen Z. I know how we consume. I know what we like, what we don't like," he says.

"And I think that's an advantage that a lot of these people in these boardrooms don't have."

Fashion journalist Renee Washington says fashion content creators are having a "big impact" on the industry and feels they are making it "more accessible".

"You don't need to be sitting front row at Fashion Week anymore to shape taste, you can influence right from your bedroom and that shift has been very powerful", she says.

"Trends that would have unfolded in a season are now taking up to 48 hours and I would say [creatives] have made fashion faster, more democratic and far more conversational."

However, she doesn't feel they can replace the "authority" that legacy platforms and institutions hold as she says they are grounded in "credibility, consistency and history", which builds trust with audiences.

Washington, a digital fashion writer for Grazia UK, says Hamblin's ambition to help reinvent Slazenger is "very commendable" as she notes it's "not easy trying to change a brand that has years of history behind it".

But with brand revamps, she feels it only really works if it feels "authentic".

"One campaign or one TikTok series won't ultimately change the whole brand," she adds.

But the fast fashion Washington refers to is also seen as a problem the industry hasn't figured out how to deal with.

Tens of millions of items of clothing are thrown away each year, and the synthetic materials often used by fast fashion retailers are among the hardest to recycle.

Added to that are environmental concerns about how the clothes are produced, and the treatment of factory workers who make them.

Washington says some content creators are probably fueling people's demand for "fast fashion".

Hamblin agrees social media has "probably accelerated trend cycles a bit too fast" which he says "doesn't help with overconsumption and people understanding their true taste".

However, he does believe it can be "hugely valuable" for creators who are trying to get noticed.

Throughout the process, he has been posting TikTok videos which show the development of the line - from initial designs to mock-ups - and has been engaging with praise, scepticism and critiques in the comments.

And so a series which started as poking at the brand and its owner, has ended up becoming a way for them to attract new customers - Hamblin's followers - who have been following his design process.

"I think these days, if you've got the right vision and the right passion behind what you believe in and what you're creating, these platforms can help you find the right people pretty rapidly," he says.

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