Paul Smith (designer)

Paul Smith, 2009

Sir Paul Brierley Smith , CBE , RDI (born July 5, 1946 in Nottingham ) is a British fashion designer and entrepreneur who founded his fashion company Paul Smith Ltd. in 1970 . founded, which is active worldwide today.

Smith is mainly known for his men's fashion collections, which he himself described as "classic with a twist" (German: classic with that certain something ), and the use of bright colors and floral patterns in his fashion. He is considered to be the most successful designer in Great Britain. Under the Paul Smith brand, clothing, shoes and accessories for women, men and children as well as perfumes, watches, furnishings and more are offered worldwide through a network of own boutiques and upscale retailers .

Career and company history

Smith, the son of a tailor , originally wanted to be a cyclist . However, these plans were terminated at the age of seventeen as a result of a traffic accident involving a car. His father gave him a job in a clothing company and after a few jobs as a boutique manager and fashion buyer , he opened his first fashion store in Nottingham in 1970 and founded Paul Smith Ltd. His girlfriend at the time, and now wife, Pauline, who had studied fashion design , brought him together with people from the fashion and design world and encouraged him to create his own fashion. In 1976 Smith presented his first men's collection under the name 'Paul Smith' in Paris . The first store in London followed in 1979. In the mid-1980s, the company was established in the London business world as a fashion label in the upper price segment. This success resulted in the international expansion of the business. Women's fashion, which accounts for about 25% of the company's sales, didn't follow until 1993. Main line menswear is still featured twice a year at Paris fashion shows, while Paul Smith’s mainline womenswear has been on display during London Fashion Week since 1998. The company's website went online in 1995 and has been running an online shop since 2004 .

A trademark of Smith is a pattern of narrow, brightly colored lines or stripes in 14 colors. Smith is responsible for both design and business in his company and, despite his great success, is considered an unaffected, witty and funny workaholic . In 1991 the British Royal Society of Arts accepted Smith into the circle of the Royal Designers of Industry (RDI) for his services to the fashion industry . Smith was inducted into the Order of the British Empire as Commander (CBE) in 1994 and knighted by Prince Charles in 2000 for services to the British fashion industry . Since then he has been able to call himself Sir Paul Smith . On November 24, 2000 the ceremony took place in the morning at Buckingham Palace and in the afternoon Paul Smith and Pauline Denyer - his partner since 1967 - got married.

Company data

Headquarters of Paul Smith Ltd. is Nottingham. The company's worldwide sales (including licenses) in 2008 were approximately £ 346 million. The sales (excluding licenses) of Paul Smith Ltd. amounted to approximately £ 174m in 2009/2010 and approximately £ 196m in 2010/2011, with pre-tax profits of £ 25m (2009/2010) and £ 34m (2010/2011) respectively. Smith's office and studio are located in London district of Covent Garden .

As of 2012, Smith was running 15 of its own Paul Smith stores as well as 6 outlets in Great Britain and over 130 stores worldwide, including in Paris, Hong Kong, Moscow and New York, but none in Austria or Switzerland. The first German store opened in Hamburg in 2014. In addition, there were around 200 sales areas (some as shop-in-shop) in Japan , where the brand is particularly in demand. In 2006 Paul Smith's Japanese business partner, Itochu Corporation , acquired 40% of the shares in Paul Smith Ltd. The remaining 60% of the company's shares still belong to Paul Smith.

At the beginning of 2015, Paul Smith appointed his employee Simon Homes, who has been with the company since 2004 and most recently head of the men's collections, as creative director of all Paul Smith collections. This is done to relieve Paul Smith, but in no way represents a withdrawal of the company founder from the company, who at the end of the fashion shows still presents himself to the audience alone for the final applause.

Collections

Paul Smith's famous stripe pattern

Paul Smith Boutique in Las Vegas

Numerous collections were sold under the 'Paul Smith' brand in its own shops and specialist retailers in over 75 countries. At the end of 2015, however, Paul Smith announced for 2016 that the sub-collections would be discontinued and ultimately only the main line and the second line PS, each for women and men, would be continued in addition to children's fashion. Furthermore, (sun) glasses ( Paul Smith Spectacles , since 1994), shoes , accessories , wristwatches (since 1994), fragrances (since 2000), crockery , writing utensils , carpets , home textiles, fabrics, etc. offered under the 'Paul Smith' fashion label. Paul Smith occasionally collaborates on design projects with other companies and gives their products that certain "Paul Smith something": for example: Burton (snowboards), Triumph (motorcycles), Rapha (cycling clothing), Evian (glass bottle) etc. For Until 2016, youthful men's sportswear with its own stores was offered to the Japanese market under the R.Newbold brand . Paul Smith had bought the factory of the British clothing manufacturer R.Newbold, founded in 1885, in 1991, presented the first R.Newbold collection in England in 1993 and established the label exclusively in Japan since the mid-1990s.

Current collections

• Menswear
  • Paul Smith Collection (main line, since 1976)
  • PS Paul Smith (teenage second line)

For the Japanese market, a distinction is still made between the Paul Smith main line and the Paul Smith Collection (classic English fashion) including the Paul Smith Collection Individual Order (made to measure).

• Womenswear
  • Paul Smith (main line, since 1993 for the 1994 season)
  • PS Paul Smith (second line introduced in 2016, replacing all previous sub-lines)
• Children's fashion
  • Paul Smith Junior (since 1991, initially: Paul Smith Childrenswear )

Former collections

• Menswear
  • Paul Smith London (business fashion within the main line)
    • Paul Smith The British Collection (special collection, "capsule collection", the London line)
  • Paul Smith Jeans ( denim- based sportswear) and Red Ear by Paul Smith Jeans (high-quality denim collection)
  • Paul Smith Sport (sporty leisure wear)
  • Paul Smith Bespoke (made to measure, since 1998)
• Womenswear
  • Paul Smith Black Label (more fashionable second line)
  • Paul by Paul Smith or Paul x (youth collection, since 2008)
  • Paul Smith Pink Label (from 1998, discontinued)
  • Paul Smith Blue Label (discontinued)

Quote

"Every day of my life I see something that makes me laugh."

- Paul Smith : Interview by Tanja Rest in Süddeutsche Zeitung from 27./28. July 2019, No. 172, p. 56.

Web links

Commons : Paul Smith  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Paul Smith's website
• biography
• History of the company
• Interview with Paul Smith
• Paul Smith presents his current collection (AW 2010)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Tanja Rest: Paul Smith on staying on the ground. Interview in: Süddeutsche Zeitung from 27./28. July 2019, No. 172, p. 56.
2. ↑ welt.de: Men are not afraid of my fashion (September 3, 2009)
3. ↑ RDInsights , thersa.org, accessed: May 22, 2012
4. ↑ WWD via Highbeam: The newest knight Sir Paul Smith (German: The newest knight Sir Paul Smith) ( Memento of the original from June 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked . Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (November 30, 2000) 
5. ↑ britishfashionawards.com: 2001: HRH Prince of Wales attends as Guest of Honor (German: 2001: SKH The Prince of Wales participates as a guest of honor) ( Memento of the original from April 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info : The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (last accessed: December 30, 2009) 
6. ↑ timesonline.co.uk (Engl.) Paul Smith: The Visionary (August 1, 2009)
7. ^ Paul Smith defies gloomy trend as profits leap 36 per cent , independent.co.uk, December 21, 2011
8. ↑ Selfie King Paul Smith opens store in Hamburg . In: GRAZIA Germany . ( grazia-magazin.de [accessed on January 3, 2018]).
9. ^ The Independent: Global success: suits you, sir (June 28, 2000)
10. ↑ Paul Smith hires creative director ( memento of the original from August 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , textilwirtschaft.de, March 18, 2015 
11. ↑ timesonline.co.uk: Paul Smith: The Visionary (August 1, 2009)