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In 1970, Paul Smith (b. 1946) opened his first store at 10 Byard Lane, Nottingham, named Paul Smith Vetements Pour l’Homme. The first menswear collection under the Paul Smith label debuted in Paris in 1976; their first London store opened in 1979 at 44 Floral Street, London, expanding into the adjacent shop in 1982. The first store in Japan opened in 1984 and the brand expanded through a licensing agreement with Japanese company Itochu. The year 1984 also saw the company collaborate with UK high-street tailor Austin Reed, producing a range of suits under the label ‘Paul Smith at Cue by Austin Reed’. A denim range called Paul Smith Jeans was launched in 1988, and a casual diffusion range titled PS Paul Smith in 1993.

The R. Newbold range was launched in 1993 after Paul Smith took over the Derby-based menswear manufacturer R. Newbold in 1991. Founded in 1885, R. Newbold was a manufacturer of three-piece suits, overalls, miners’ wear, and military and emergency service uniforms. The Design Museum, London has staged two exhibitions devoted to Paul Smith’s work: True Brit in 1995, and Hello, My Name Is Paul Smith in 2015. In 1999, Paul Smith launched Red Ear, a denim collection designed and manufactured in Japan. By 2002 Paul Smith had 200 shops and 500 wholesale customers in Japan. In 2006 Japanese licensee Itochu bought a 40 per cent stake in the company for an undisclosed price. Simon Homes, the brand’s head of menswear, was named creative director in 2015, but Paul Smith returned to the role in 2018. In 2015, the brand also consolidated its various secondary lines and denim collections under the new PS by Paul Smith label.

By 2020, the company had been streamlined to produce the Paul Smith mainline collection, the PS Paul Smith range and a small childrenswear and homeware line. Paul Smith has collaborated with several companies including Mini car, Triumph motorbikes, HP Sauce, Mercian cycles, Evian, Leica cameras, Anglepoise, Rapha, Land Rover, New Balance, Cinelli, Globe- Trotter and Converse. Paul Smith won the Menswear Designer award at the British Fashion Awards in 1997, 1999 and 2003. Paul Smith was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to fashion in the 1994 New Year’s Honours. For his contributions to fashion, he was knighted in the 2000 Birthday Honours and appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 2020 Birthday Honours.
Sources: Management Today; Menswear; Financial Times; Paul Smith, Deyan Sudjic and Donna Loveday, Hello, My Name is Paul Smith: Fashion and Other Stories, ed. Alan Aboud (New York: Rizzoli, 2013); Sonnet Stanfill, ed., 80s Fashion: From Club to Catwalk (London: V&A Publishing, 2013); The Sunday Times; WWD.
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