One of the things I use is two little words: “Never assume”. It’s saved us so much heartache and money and organisational problems over the years. In other words, just check things.

So you go to a shirt factory in Derby pretending you’ve got an order for 50 shirts when you’ve only got an order for 18 shirts, and they say: ‘We only make a minimum of 2,000 shirts’. Eventually, through conversation, through character, through whatever, they make them for you. So much of it has to do with your perseverance, your character, your determination to make it work. So much of it has to do with lateral thinking and getting on with it.

A lot of my success in Japan is probably down to the fact that I’ve literally been there every year since I started there in ‘84. I met the people and personally trained everyone there to give them a real sense of Paul Smith. It’s a combination of the clothes and my way of working.

The thing about today is, you’ve got to have things outside of your actual job. I take lots of pictures, do interviews with people, design bikes, and do lots of things. All of that enhances what you do for a living.

I try to go to the actual weavers themselves rather than the salesmen, as they don’t always have the knowledge of how things are done. My clothes are successful because I understand how to twist yarn and how to weave it, which gives them resilience. I suppose those early days of having to do things to earn money have paid off.

Getting a bicycle and a camera at the age of 11 were big deals for me. The camera taught me to observe. And the bike taught me teamwork and competitiveness – I started racing when I was 12.

Between 15 and 29, I did anything to earn money. All those things were learning by doing, I was learning my trade.

I do put the hours in. There was a guy I liked on television years ago who said, 'I admired this chap once and I thought, I can't be better than him but I can work longer hours than him.' So I thought, 'I'll try that!' Just work longer and harder than everyone else. Get more hours in and see if that works.

You can't do it without doing it.