Manufacturing is finite, but human intellect is infinite. Textile is all about manufacturing, and industries like pharmaceuticals are all about human intellect.
Textile mills are not a very high-margin business and have fixed overheads, so it was challenging. But I think it is only in challenges that you get opportunities.
There is nothing similar between the pharmaceutical and textile business.
To think that the new economy is over is like somebody in London in 1830 saying the entire industrial revolution is over because some textile manufacturers in Manchester went broke.
Every time that I wanted to give up, if I saw an interesting textile, print what ever, suddenly I would see a collection.
Thanks to David Attenborough and 'Blue Planet 2,' we've become aware of the damage to our oceans from plastic pollution. We now know to use textile shopping bags instead of plastic, reuse coffee-cups and refuse polystyrene ones, and avoid plastic straws when ordering a drink at the bar.
I bought a year's production of flax from a single field owned by a Dutch producer. That's 10,000 kilograms of flax, enough to enable industrial level production. Now, I'm weaving it into tablecloths, tea towels, and other items at the Textile Museum in Tilburg. I'm producing hundreds of grown-up products!
I'm not scared of many sectors, so if you look at my investment portfolio, it is pretty wide. I've invested in anything from market research firms to fashion houses and textile companies.
You don't know what hard times are, daddy. Hard times are when the textile workers around this country are out of work, they got 4 or 5 kids and can't pay their wages, can't buy their food. Hard times are when the autoworkers are out of work, and they tell 'em to go home.
I guess the big thing is that I don't buy anything first-hand. It's a personal policy I have for all sorts of reasons. If you research to the textile industry yourself, you'll know why. I came to it personally.
