Q&A: Pyjama king Peter Alexander talks UK ambitions and evolving over four decades

Alexander says at the time he saw that there was a niche in the market, describing pyjamas of the period as being either “little house on the prairie, white, virginal stuff” or “femme fatale, red lace, sexy stuff”.

Speaking to his female friends, Alexander found that many opted for men’s sleepwear due to the lack of choice for women’s pyjamas. 

And so, a business was born. After some knockbacks, the brand later gained attention from the media and began being stocked by some of Australia’s biggest department stores – such as David Jones.

Fast-forward to 2025 and the brand has over 135 stores in Australia and New Zealand, and budding international ambitions.

Peter Alexander spoke to Retail Week about the success of the brand in its native Australia, and its plans for the UK.

How has Peter Alexander evolved since the 1980s?

“The success came from changing from wholesale to direct selling, which was very new in Australia. Then it was about going into retail, but I only did this once I had the retail partners because it is such a difficult beast if you don’t know what you’re doing. My first retail store was in 2004 and I was scared because I didn’t just sell pyjamas, I sold a dream, I sold beautiful people in pyjamas rolling around in a bed and I wasn’t sure how that visual feast would turn into hanger appeal.

“So I made sure my shop told a story. If you go into my shops now, you’ll see a lot of my history on the walls, photos of me and my mum, photos of my dog Penny, and I want a story to be told. I wanted to make sure that you could touch things, laugh at things, be surprised by things and you could be delighted. My fear was a boring retail store because pyjamas can present as quite dull if they’re just hanging on a rack.”

What has the jump to the UK been like? 

“The UK had the biggest proportion of online international sales for us, so that I had a bit of an inbuilt fan base here. But the UK is a different market and I’ve almost had to start at the beginning again with telling customers who I am, but more importantly, listening to what they want from me. 

“Have I got the right fabrics? Have I got the right shapes? Have I got the right print? Is my pricing right? So it’s going to be a learning curve for the next 18 months to two years for me to adapt to what the UK wants from my brand, but I’m also not going to change my brand because what’s the point of copying what you guys have already got here? 

“We’ve opened up three stores and we’re over here watching what’s selling, what’s not, and doing as much promotion as we can. Hopefully the cast of UK Love Island will love it, then my life will be complete.”

How have the three UK stores been trading so far?

“We opened in the two London Westfield centres and Bluewater before Christmas last year, and some stores are performing better than others. We have some work to do because the seasonalities are completely different, so we need to adjust our stock and our prints and learn as we go.

“Most people who could afford my pyjamas in the UK have all got heating in their houses, but they don’t have air conditioning. While in Australia, it is the opposite as everyone’s got air conditioning but they don’t have heating. 

“Also culturally, the UK is a lot more diverse. There’s a lot more religious factors I have to watch out for and there’s a lot of diversity in culture and size, so I have to listen and adapt and move forward.”

Are there any other stores that you’re planning to open in the UK?

“We want to wait 18 months to see where we want to go next. There’s definitely lots of opportunities in the UK. I would love to open up a flagship on Regent Street or Oxford Street, but our biggest store is probably our online store. There’s so much opportunity for expansion here, but I don’t want to overinvest until I’ve got the product completely right for the UK.”

Are there any markets that you’re keen to explore?

“Australia and New Zealand are probably 90% done. There’s always still a few stores to open up, but I think the UK is almost in a way centre to the world. If we get it right here, all the other European countries are going to visit and see it, as many people in the fashion industry come to London. In America it can be quite isolated but in England, it’s so close to so many countries. So I’ll start off with England, and then I’d love to go to Scotland or Ireland.”