Can't be snobby in business, says Paul Smith

Veteran fashion designer Paul Smith thinks the key to success is to not be "snobby".

Smith, 71, has been a part of the fashion business for over five decades, and the mogul thinks designers should not act as if they are superior to others if they wish to have longevity in the business, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

He told Esquire magazine: "If you want to be in business for a long time, you can't be snobby or stuck in the mud. You have to just flow with the river. So many people get formulaic. They're so proud that they won't change: 'I do it this way.' No, you don't. You did do it that way, but now you need to do it this way.

"I've been here a long time. We've never gone like a rocket. Never borrowed money. We've always done it very gently and very carefully. And slowly, slowly, you build it up.

"When I started, the whole idea about being a designer is that you have an idea in your head and your heart, and you hoped somebody liked it. Now it's all about, "Prada are doing this, Gucci are doing that." And everyone's nervous. And it used to be just about: this is what I do,"

Smith says designers go "horribly" wrong when they "do things to just get the attention of the press".

"That does a huge disservice to our industry, and it doesn't do any good for themselves most of the time, because people just think it's silly," he said.

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