As a tycoon who netted £440 million from the sale of his fashion label, lives in the splendour of a Cotswolds mansion and travels by private jet, Julian Dunkerton can afford the latest technology.

But the founder of Superdry has some advice for anyone wishing to emulate his success in business: ditch emails and throw away your smartphone.

Mr Dunkerton’s only phone is a battered Nokia that can make and receive calls and texts, but nothing more. If someone emails him, he will not read it unless a member of staff prints it out.

“I watch people everywhere, all looking at their iPhones, and I think I’m lucky that I can take a step back and watch and think without this constant interference that everyone else has.

“My brain is probably freer to comprehend what is actually happening around me and make better decisions because it’s not clogged with rubbish,” he told Tatler magazine.

“Picking up a phone takes a second, whereas writing an email takes 10 minutes, which is a wasted nine-and-a-half minutes.”

Dunkerton retired from Superdry a year ago but returned earlier this month following a boardroom battle. He started out with a market stall in Cheltenham in 1985, setting up the Japanese-inspired Superdry in the 1990s.