After a career ending injury of his pursuit to become a professional cyclist Paul Smith befriended a group of creative people, he was inspired and convinced that fashion and clothing would be his pursuit in life. After learning to tailor, his designs lead him to the retail entrepreneur Harold Tilman who operated on the famous Savile Row, which is infamous for its heritage of tailoring.
Then in 1970 Smith opened his first store in his home city Nottingham with his now wife Pauline Denyer. By 1976 Paul showed his first menswear collection in Paris, under the Paul Smith label. He gradually expanded the retail business, being the first fashion brand to open on Floral Street in London's Covent Garden in 1979 and by 1987 he had opened 4 stores in London. He not only expanded in the UK but internationally, opening stores in New York and Japan.
The 90’s was a big decade for the brand with lots of positive changes. Firstly, the brand expanded its consumer market by producing new product lines such as children’s wear, footwear, luggage, perfumes, accessories and most importantly women’s wear. After discovering that 15 per cent of his clothes were bought by women, who were attracted to his modern use of fine and classic materials, he introduced a women's collection in 1993. Smith raked in numerous awards including, a CBE in 1994 for his services to the British fashion industry, The Queen's Award for Industry for export achievement and the Honorary Freedom of the City of Nottingham.
The 00’s welcomed Paul Smith with a knighthood, an accolade that until then had only been bestowed upon one other designer, Hardy Amies. He also achieved 4 consecutive wins of the GQ man of the year award. A keen sportsman himself, he collaborated and designed pieces for Manchester United, England football team and Olympic cyclist winners Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins. Most significantly in 2006 Smith introduced the now iconic and signature multicolour stripes print.
Now after a successful the fashion retailer saw a nine per cent increase in sales to £215 million. With more investment being put into the online/digital sector of the company meaning online sales jumped 12 percent, which means, online now accounts for almost a quarter of all Paul Smith’s sales. They also opened new stores in Bow Lane in the City and at the Coal Drops Yard development in Kings Cross in London as well as in Copenhagen and Munich, meaning Paul Smith now currently operates from 70 countries around the world.With all this good news it marks a very positive start to celebrating their 50th anniversary this year.
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