Peter Alexander on expanding his pyjamas brand internationally

Australian premium sleepwear and lifestyle brand Peter Alexander has been in the UK for just over a year. Since its online launch, the sleepwear and gifting brand, a household name in its home country and New Zealand, has opened three stores in London and Kent, and is fast becoming a high street staple.

What started with a 3,000 Australian dollar loan from his dad and a mission to offer comfortable women's pyjamas that weren't matronly styles has grown into nearly half a billion Australian dollars in sales a year and has seen the entrepreneur dubbed the 'Pyjama King' by the Australian media.

The brand's success comes from Alexander’s humorous, quirky and playful personality, which shines through in every collection, which draws inspiration from his travels and his love of prints. What started with women’s pyjamas has grown into a full family offering with styles for men, children and dogs, alongside loungewear, daywear, footwear, beauty, homeware, and gifts.

In 2000, Peter Alexander joined Australian retail giant The Just Group and has continued to grow, opening its first standalone store in Melbourne, Australia, in 2004, with its 100th store coming in 2016. Now the brand has more than 140 stores and is part of Premier Retail, a standalone entity, formed after an internal restructure involving the separation of the Peter Alexander and Smiggle businesses from the remainder of the Just Group earlier this year.

FashionUnited chatted with Peter Alexander about how he launched his brand, what inspires his playful retail stores, and the brand’s plans for growing in the UK and internationally.

What inspired the launch of your brand?

There were a few things that pushed me to start my own brand, but my female friends were my biggest inspiration behind the idea. Back in 1987, sleepwear was only in department stores and was either long, matronly styles or pieces that were really just lingerie posing as nightwear. I thought there needed to be something fun and fashionable to sleep in!

Why pyjamas?

My love for pyjamas pre-dates this, but in 1985, I went on a holiday to Hong Kong and came across a pair of pyjamas in a store I really loved. They were quite expensive for the time, but I bought them anyway, and when I took them home, I remember my parents asked me, “Why did you buy these PJs?”.

Fast forward to 1987, when I decided I wanted to start my own business, I thought about the pyjamas I had bought on that holiday and why I loved them so much, and I realised it had an emotional connection to my childhood! The feeling of slipping into your PJs and getting comfy when everything was carefree, and there was no stress. That’s when I realised it wasn’t about selling things; it was about sharing a dream.

You sold your brand over 25 years ago – how have they helped your brand develop?

When I started my brand, it was just my Mum and I working from her dining room table. We didn’t have an accounting department, property team, or anything like that to support us; we had to pretend to be someone else when people called to make us seem bigger! After we launched and started to grow, it became clear that we needed more help than we had, so I made the decision to sell and let the business build and look at it today!

You've had a lot of success in your home country of Australia and New Zealand - what are your plans for the UK / internationally?

What can I say, the people of Australia and New Zealand just love to sleep with me!

Right now, it’s all about our three UK stores and the market; learning what fabrics you like, what prints you love, and understanding how the British get a good night’s sleep.

Can you talk through the design approach of your retail stores?

Moving into retail stores, it was an absolute fear of mine to just sell ‘things’. Boring and messy racks that were difficult to shop were my nightmare, and I didn’t want that for my store. It was important to me that my personality and story were told through every part of my brand, and that’s why today the stores are the cheeky, playful experiences that people know and love. There’s really nothing like it (and that’s a completely unbiased opinion!).

Your stores stand out for not only the playful retail design, but the knowledge and approachability of your staff - was that important to you?

Creating a memorable and very personal in-store experience for customers has been important to me since I opened my very first store in Australia, and something that we still really focus on 140 stores later.

What has the response been from the UK market?

Let’s just say, it seems like the British seem to love sleeping with me, too!

Have you seen differences in what the UK customer wants compared to Australia/New Zealand?

There are a lot of similarities, but there are certainly differences in the fabrics, prints, and colours that you like here in the UK. A good example of this is the heating in England; When we came to the UK, we thought we’d sell a lot of heavier flannelettes in the colder seasons as we do in Australia, but unlike us, your houses are built with better heating systems, so lighter fabrics actually work better.

The festive season is an important time for any retail brand - what does Peter Alexander have planned?

Over the last 38 years, the holidays have become a huge time for Peter Alexander. We’ve become the go-to gifting destination and a real tradition for families and celebrations; whether it’s a pair of pyjamas wrapped under the tree waiting to be unwrapped on Christmas morning, or the whole family dressed in matching pyjama sets on Christmas Eve.

It really is such a special time of the year for families, so I always want to create a collection that brings some extra magic to the celebrations, no matter who you’re shopping for.

It could be Paddington Bear PJs for babies, The Grinch for Grandad, buttery-soft sets for Mum, or even cosy PJs for our four-legged family members. Everyone is on the nice list at Peter Alexander!