Tucked away on a quiet side street in East London, Alexei's studio is easy to miss. Spread across two modest floors; the space feels more like a working workshop than a polished creative headquarters. A white backdrop dominates its corners, while shelves and rails lined with organised chaos hold everything from fabric inspirations and new drops to Slazenger artefacts waiting to be rediscovered. Alexei plans to make the space his own; it's functional now, but he talks about redesigning it over time and shaping it into something that reflects his vision. It's a sentiment that feels familiar. Much like the studio around him, Alexei's approach to Slazenger isn't about erasing what's already there; it’s about recognising the value in what's being overlooked. 

Alexei’s mission began way before Slazenger, starting with a brand of his own, built from scratch. “I learnt everything on the job, from doing the accounts to redesigning collections and organising photoshoots,” he explains. However, Alexei’s way of working in fashion was never to fuel a divide or do it alone “If you dive into my TikTok, you’ll see there was always some kind of mission.” Alexei explains: “It was always about breaking into the fashion industry, demystifying it a bit, and democratising it so more people could access an industry that was often heavily gatekept.” 

“One of the biggest lessons I learned early on was that good design alone isn't enough. Great design has to be paired with a compelling story and a clear purpose.” - Alexei Hamblin 

Founded on a promise to make sport accessible to everyday people, while its products were still being used by the best players in the world, Slazenger’s story has been buried under decades of generic branding. Alexei’s job, first as a consultant and now as Creative Director, has been to excavate it, translate it, and hand it back to a generation that never knew it was there to find. “Growing up, I knew Slazenger as the affordable Sports Direct brand without much meaning attached to it,” he admits. “But when I started researching the archives, I discovered partnerships, products and stories that I had no idea existed.” That gap, between the perception of Slazenger and its rich history, is one Alexei has spent the past year closing. 

To some, Slazenger was just a T-shirt with a logo on it. To Alexei, it’s a gold mine steeped in heritage. “I realised there was an incredible amount of untapped history,” he says. Alexei platforms Slazenger's legacy as the linchpin to its reinvention: “The storytelling came before the design, and I think that's one of the reasons the project has been so successful so far.” For Alexei, Slazenger's story serves more for the brand than just nostalgia. Alexei’s approach to storytelling is well informed from his past experiences, noted when reflecting on his early work with his own brand. “The designs looked great, but there wasn't much else behind them” he shared. "Failing in those areas quite early taught me that, in my opinion, good design means very little without a story behind it.” 

Ask Alexei how you preserve a heritage brand while making it feel current and he doesn't hesitate. "Heritage isn't just about being old. Heritage is your proof,” he says. For Slazenger, that proof lies in its ties to some of the biggest names in tennis history, evidence he leans on rather than dusts off.  

“There are so many brands competing for attention now that you have to keep telling new stories. Slazenger has incredibly strong ties to some of the biggest institutions in tennis history. That’s our proof." - Alexei Hamblin  

For Alexei, design is largely influenced by psychology, something that has fascinated him for even longer than he’s been interested in fashion, and it shows in how he talks about product. “Psychology has become a central part of my design process,” he continues. “I don't just want to design products that look good. I want to design things that make people feel good about themselves. I want them to feel like they’re connected to something bigger.”  

In reconnecting with design psychology and brand culture, Alexei discovered a construct of British identity that he feels proud to stand behind. “I think we’re living through a period where there’s a lot of confusion around British identity, when I started exploring Slazenger’s archive, I found a story about genuine British excellence,” he explains. “It was based on achievement, innovation and proof.”  

“[Slazenger] Made me feel proud of my own heritage, and that’s something I wanted people to experience through this new direction for the brand.” - Alexei Hamblin 

If there’s a defining trait to how Alexei works, it’s a refusal to hide the process. That openness has followed Alexei throughout his career, one that caught the interest of Slazenger HQ in the first place. “People don’t just want to be sold products anymore. They want to understand how those products came to exist,” he explains. Although most of the fashion world still favors the big reveal, he’d rather bring people along from the start: “I don’t believe in creating smoke and mirrors and then suddenly revealing a finished collection.” 

This transparency is clear in Alexei’s approach to his second collection launching on the 12^th of July. Unlike the first capsule, designed largely in private, this one has been shaped in full view of an audience that talked back. “The new collection definitely feels like an evolution of the first capsule, but this time the process has been completely different,” he says. “We’ve had thousands of comments, conversations and messages from people following the journey [...] it’s definitely given me some interesting perspectives.” Alexei proves just how insightful this openness can be, explaining how some sent in archive pieces they'd owned for decades, while others shared old photographs of parents wearing Slazenger in the seventies and eighties.  

When reflecting on which brands get the heritage balance right, Alexei speaks highly of both Fred Perry and Barbour. Fred Perry earns Alexei’s praise through its British cultural relevance: “It’s managed to tell lots of different stories while still feeling unmistakably British.” And Barbour, for its craft and innovation: ‘Their heritage never feels forced,” he says. “Whenever I come across an old Barbour jacket, it was always in incredible condition, even decades later.” 

While both brands have had a personal influence on Alexei, he surprisingly takes a step back from industry influence in his professional work. “I don’t spend much time looking at what other fashion brands are doing,” he says. “I don’t want to feel like I’m subconsciously borrowing someone else's ideas.” Instead, Alexei draws inspiration from creativity in the city around him: “I never leave a concert without feeling inspired to go away and create something.” Citing his love for music and performance as something that energizes his creative flow.  

“I’m confident in my willingness to keep learning and stay open to unexpected sources of inspiration.” - Alexei Hamblin 

As Alexei embarks on the release of his newest collection with Slazenger, it's clear that his work has only just begun, yet he notes what success at the end of it all could look like to him. “The goal is for the brand to become bigger than me. I don’t want people to engage with Slazenger because ‘that's the guy from TikTok’ I want it to genuinely mean something again,” he says.

“When people simply connect with Slazenger itself, that's probably when I’d feel the job had been done.” - Alexei Hamblin

It’s not hard for anyone to draw inspiration from Alexei’s journey, in what feels like a masterclass in owning your creativity, leaning on your experiences and harnessing the world around you to propel your ideas.

His words for creatives and designers breaking into the industry hold a lot of weight. “The biggest thing I’d say is: stop asking for permission. Start putting your work out there. You’d be surprised how many decision-makers are seeing your content; your work has the potential to end up in rooms you never imagined.”

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