Sir Paul, 79, began touring Japan in the early 1980s to develop his label. There are now around 160 Paul Smith stores in the country, all run by its long-time partner and licensee Itocho, who currently owns about 18 percent of the company. “When I first came here, in the early ’80s, it was just phenomenal,” Smith recalled. “A lot of designers came to Japan and were disrespectful: they saw it as a quick way to make money. To me it was: Wow, Japan! It’s an honor to be here. The admiration has always been mutual, and I’ve always felt that.” When, in 1998, they were approached by Mini to build a special edition of 1,800 cars, their popularity in Japan meant that 1,500 of them were sold here. Many of them are still on the road today, and they cost more than double.
Twenty-six years later, Smith is big (in a mini) again in Japan. As we conduct this interview, carpool karaoke-style, he and Hempf offer details on the new edition. “It’s woven, recycled and recycled,” observes Smith of the interior tech Jacquard fabric. “It’s mimicking our stripe, which we call the shade stripe, basically just in black. Then there’s the blue stitching on the leatherwork, the rabbet on the floor mats, the green mirrors—they’re just a little off, you know? Not the typical automotive shade.”
For Mini’s HAMPF, the collaboration marks an evolution in how automotive design can absorb outside creative languages without losing credibility. “In a collaboration, both sides have to find themselves,” he says. “It can’t be that we push automotive design on the police, or that we make a fashion statement that would be vulgar.” It’s a very tasteful presentation with some truth about it, and, I think, that’s what’s most important.”
Mini has been owned by the BMW Group since 1994. At the turn of the millennium, it retired the Alec Risgonis-designed “classic” mini, first introduced in 1959, and introduced a new, modern mini design in 2001. During 2024, BMW Group reported revenue of $142.38 billion. In the first nine months of 2025, BMW sales in Japan rose 6 percent, while Mini sales rose 32 percent.
