Q&A: Chelsea Peers founder Tom Pyne on how he is continuing to capitalise on the loungewear boom

Starting from humble beginnings in his bedroom, co-founder Tom Pyne launched Chelsea Peers with his wife Lara in 2012 with a vision to “innovate the sleepwear market” and incorporate comfort, style and design into his brand.

Initially a wholesale business that began with an order of around £20,000 worth of stock, nothing could have prepared Pyne for what was to come.

Accelerated by the demand for lounge and sleepwear during the Covid-19 pandemic and the power of social media, Chelsea Peers rapidly went from being a wholesale-only business to a million-pound direct-to-consumer business.

Now a certified B Corp business that is stocked at retail giants including John Lewis, M&S and Next among others, and with total revenue for the 2023/2024 full year rising by 12% year-on-year to reach £15.3m, Pyne speaks to Retail Week about the Chelsea Peers consumer, its vital third-party partners and how the business is continuing to grow amid a booming loungewear market.

Talk to me about the brand’s journey to date

“Having started in 2012 without any investment from my bedroom, our first wholesale order was for around £20,000. I started reaching out to major retailers and I managed to get Asos and John Lewis to buy, so we started selling the brand through these retailers and it was then that we saw very large growth.

“For over five years, we were only doing wholesale. We weren’t doing any other approach. During Covid, this was probably one of the biggest changing points of our business as a lot of people were wearing nightwear and lounging in pyjamas.

“We had a lot of disruption to the wholesale business, which just naturally happened during Covid so we turned to social media. Before this point, we didn’t really use our social media or do anything and we started to send messages and put up stories, and we then launched our ecommerce platform and rapidly scaled that into a million-pound direct-to-consumer business very quickly. It was eye-opening for me because it was an area that I didn’t know about.

“During that process, we integrated in marketplaces [third-party partners] as well so now we have a very even split between wholesale, direct-to-consumer via our own website, and then marketplaces. We hit more than £15m in sales last year and we are on track to do even more this year.”

How important are your third-party partners?

“We’ve expanded our retail partnerships to be more strategic and to ensure we have a balance of online and bricks and mortar.

“Right now this includes department stores such as Fenwick, John Lewis and recently M&S. Internationally, we’re in Galleries Lafayette in France, and Brown Thomas in Ireland. Next year, we’re launching with Anthropologie for spring/summer 2025 on swimwear. 

“We have been more strategic in the last three to four years as we’ve grown compared to when we first started. When you first start, you just have to make money but it’s definitely changed now, and we more carefully look at who we are working with.”

Who is your target consumer and how important has building a reputation been?

“I think what’s amazing with what we do is that we have such a broad consumer base. When you look at our products, people buy them as gifts for their family as well as for themselves, and they appeal to both older and younger customers.

“We’ve got a broad consumer base and we’ve always listened to their feedback so that’s really helped us during this growth period, as we’ve put all of that feedback into the garments and we really pride ourselves in marking very high quality.

“I also think what we do is so unique because we hand-draw all our prints, and we offer garments that are very high quality which go through vigorous testings and fittings. Our price points are also very good value for what we do. I actually don’t think there are many peoeple competing in our sort of remit as a brand and people can see that.

“We don’t take ourselves too seriously and it’s all about having hand-drawn, fun illustrations that we love ourselves. We’re not following any particular trends – we are just saying this is who we are.”

What are the biggest challenges and opportunities for Chelsea Peers in today’s market?

“Competition is always going to be in the market for retail, so as much as that is a challenge, for us it’s about staying true to our values of the hand-drawn elements, creating a community and listening to our customers while also protecting our supply chain partners. This is especially important as the market becomes more challenging.

“In terms of opportunities, part of our journey to be the home of modern lounging is looking at new categories. We launched swimwear with beach cover-ups which again used hand-drawn prints across linens and co-ords which has been successful.

“In January, we are launching loungewear in a bigger way. We’ve done a whole collection of heavy sweatshirts and joggers so that’s going to be a big push for us. We are really excited about that. I think as our community gets to know us for our quality and values, it allows us to open up into these new categories which we know our consumer wants.

“Consumers want to work from home in loungewear but maybe they can’t join a Teams call in pyjamas, so we are trying to create that outfit for our customers at home which they know they can trust. I think that’s really important.”