Collectors & Aficionados
Business F1 Top 20 Petrolheads: Lawrence Stroll, The Ultimate Petrolhead
From fashion mogul to F1 titan, Lawrence Stroll's saga blends business savvy with paternal ambition. He steers son Lance to motorsport glory while reviving Aston Martin's F1 legacy, crafting a tale of luxury and speed.
Lawrence Stroll not only possesses a savvy business brain, he is also a man who makes things happen. As a young man, he dreamed of becoming a racing driver, but he had neither the resources nor the opportunity to realize his dreams. He simply never knew just how good he could have been. Perhaps that is why he gave all support to his son Lance so that he could rise to prominence in Formula 1.
Lawrence Stroll made his fortune through a series of investments in the fashion industry. He first learned the fashion business from his father Leo Strulovitch, who ran the Pierre Cardin and Ralph Lauren brands in Canada. In 1989, at the age of 30, he parted ways with his father and joined forces with Hong Kong entrepreneur Silas Chou to form a joint venture called Sportswear Holdings Ltd with the goal of buying struggling fashion companies and turning them around.
Their first success was the purchase of Tommy Hilfiger, an up-and-coming American designer who was in desperate need of capital. Stroll and Chou backed him and grew Hilfiger from a $25 million American menswear company to a $2 billion global fashion conglomerate in just eight years. They cashed in and split a billion dollar profit according to Business F1 magazine.
