Wonder kid

Peter Alexander began selling pyjamas from his mother's dining room table back in the late 1980s. And while he had a few early setbacks that could have spelt the end, he fought on to build a pyjama empire today that turns over $50 million a year. Nina Lees reports.

At school, Peter Alexander was voted the most likely to disappear and never be heard of again by his peers. He never went to university, and didn't really have any idea what he wanted to do with his life.
"Basically I'm just a schmuck who got lucky," he shrugs.

"And yet here I am, sleeping in more beds than Paris Hilton. I don't even see myself as being in fashion, and am still wondering why I'm called a fashion designer."

This sort of modesty has no doubt helped him climb to the heady heights of celebrated fashion designer and household name. Alexander is a hugely talented entrepreneur who believes he's gone so far in the fashion game because he didn't know the rules in the first place.

Today, the Peter Alexander brand is the most profitable store within the Just Group, turning over $50 million a year. And this year, the business is celebrating 20 years of operation.

But the pyjama empire started from very humble beginnings back in 1987. Peter Alexander enlisted the help of his mother - and her dining room table, when he first decided to give the pyjama game a go.

"It was a tiny operation, and when people called to buy a pair of my pyjamas, they were embarrassed to speak to Peter Alexander, so my Mum and I would make up other names to pretend the business was bigger than it was. She was Sandra from reception, and I was Jim from accounts and Matt from the distribution centre," Alexander said.

"At the time, women were either buying flannelette pyjamas from the men's department, or women's pyjamas were all pale blue or pink with a Peter Pan collar, or very naughty nighties."

Alexander set about making the best pyjamas he could, and then let the price point be determined by the market. Today, the brand is so well loved that consumers are paying around $70 a pair.

"For me, the timing was perfect, because wearing fashion underwear as outerwear was just becoming big, and I was the only one doing it."

Alexander decided to get into wholesaling after selling pyjamas by mail order, and worked up the courage to approach Myer and David Jones with his creations.

He recalls how nervous he was when, aged just 24, he walked into David Jones with 25 samples of his trademark boldly patterned pyjamas.

"The buyer woman at David Jones totally ripped the range apart, telling me they would never sell and to stop wasting her time."

Then, an hour later, he took the same range into Myer. The buyer was away on business so Alexander saw the buyer's assistant, who was a similar age and well within Alexander's target market.

The young woman loved the range and asked if she could put the samples straight on the floor before her boss returned to see how they were received by the public.

"So we hastily priced my sample stock and put it on the floor, and the whole range had sold within a day. They ordered more, and that was it - I was in."

Before long, the same woman from David Jones who had shown no interest in Alexander and his range made a humble call, asking if he could come in with his new range. He admits he played hard to get.
"I told her I would see when I have time. But now, I am exclusively in David Jones."

Alexander said while mail order is a huge part of his business, wholesaling is 'a great leveller' that enables him to see his range alongside similar products.

"Although the bad thing about wholesaling is seeing your product stuffed on a rack diluting your brand and what it stands for. And I don't like not being paid on time."

But Alexander, who told his story at the National Retail Forum in Melbourne last month hit a few walls early on that could have been the end of his career.

He recalls that in 2000, Myer ordered 2000 pairs of spotty pyjamas; then cancelled the order.
"I thought it was a disaster and that it was going to send me out of business."

But Alexander and his mother decided to put an ad in Cleo magazine to sell the pyjamas via mail order.
He had already dealt with Cleo before, creating a pair of pyjamas for a magazine giveaway, so figured readers would have at least heard of his brand.

"I asked Mum what we would do if two people called at once to place an order, so we decided to get call waiting on the home phone."
The pyjamas were a hit, and he sold a whopping 6000 pairs from the single ad.

From there, Alexander kept everyone's names and numbers, and started his own mailing list, which today has 300,000 names on it.

These days, Alexander personally creates 11 pyjama ranges a year, as well as handling the marketing aspect of the business.

Alexander said he wants to titillate visitors to his store, filling the air with the scent of burning candles, soaps and creams, and creating nooks and crannies filled with cashmere throw rugs and other fabrics that begged to be touched.

"It isn't a pyjama shop - people go in there to have some fun."

By Nina Lees