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Paul Smith was born in Nottingham on the 5th of July 1946. His introduction into fashion was completely accidental, aged eighteen years, and without qualifications or career intentions, his father took him in hand and marched him off to the local clothing warehouse where he was employed as a gofer.

It was here that his interest in clothing and fashion developed, and by the time he was twenty he was managing the first boutique in his native Nottingham. In 1970 he opened his own shop with a few hundred pounds savings, it was very small and only opened on the busy days of Friday and Saturday, this left the rest of the week free for him to work at other things and earn enough money to build up the business.

The shop was the only one outside London to stock designers such as Kenzo and Margaret Howell. It also stocked early Paul Smith - but not yet under the Paul Smith label - shirts, trousers and jackets that Paul had made in nearby workrooms. He took evening classes at the local polytechnic and, with the help of his girlfriend, Pauline Denyer, an RCA graduate in fashion, Paul was able to create more of what he wanted for his own shop. By 1974 the shop, originally a small room off an alley, had extended onto the main street, and it became a full-time venture.

Since then his success has been phenomenal and encompasses a world-wide fashion empire, with a special emphasis on Japan, where, in a joint venture with Itochu, they have over two hundred shops, and he is considered the top European designer in Japan.

Today Paul Smith has eight shops in London, one in Manchester, one in New York, one in Paris, five in Hong Kong, two in Singapore, four in Taiwan, one in Manila, the original shop in Nottingham, and Japan. Paul Smith Limited remains self-financed with an annual world-wide turnover of the wholesale, retail and licensed business of £171 million.

Paul Smith Limited was awarded The Queens Award for Industry for export achievement in April 1995, whilst Paul was made a CBE in Queen's New Year's honours list in January 1994 for services to fashion design, and knighted in 2000.