Sustainable collaboration between MINI and Paul Smith

Sir Paul Smith, known as one of the most influential creative minds ever to come out of Britain. The Queen herself recognized his works and even knighted him in 2000 for his service in fashion. Because of that, we get to witness an iconic collaboration between Sir Paul Smith and another British icon, MINI. During the late 1990s, the two already worked together on the limited-run special edition of the pre-BMW period Mini polished in a unique shade of blue Sir Paul Smith created.

And today, the two icons are partnering once again to work on the latest projects focusing on sustainability. The official announcement came yesterday and it seems like this collaboration will include developing design solutions. According to Oliver Heilmer, the current head of MINI design, “We work well together because of our similarities, and then we stimulate ideas and enrich each other through the differences between the fashion world and the automotive industry. After all, the future looks far-fetched without sustainability.”

“The vital key to the many iconic examples of design is simplicity,” adds Sir Paul Smith. “Simply put, it falls back to what you leave out, not what you add. That philosophy is similar in fashion. For Paul Smith, as for MINI, the natural way of approaching this has always been sustainability, even before it’s popularized.

We’ve always looked after a responsible approach to materials and production conditions. We used recycled packaging, reduced fabric waste, and powered our shops using renewable energy. These are just a few of the steps we took and constantly planning to further improve.”

“For the first time, we’re taking MINI further into a sustainability-led concept through the MINI Vision Urbanaut – a vision for a spacious, multifunctional MINI model,” says Oliver Heilmer. “It, too, provides optimum space within a small footprint and is more versatile than ever. Furthermore, its interior incorporates fully recycled materials, and have already averted the use of leather and chrome altogether.”