Pip Edwards on leaving P.E. Nation, her next move and why ‘I’m more interesting than my boyfriends’

After shocking the fashion industry by exiting P.E. Nation, Pip Edwards reflects on her new chapter and how her close friends - including Jackie O - have helped her. 

Stepping down from activewear powerhouse P.E. Nation – the label she co-founded in 2006 and that bears her initials – was a major move for Pip Edwards.

But rejoining Ksubi, the brand where she launched her fashion career 20 years ago, was an even bigger one.

In an interview with the Stellar podcast Something To Talk About, Edwards opens up on why the full-circle moment is part of a total personal rebrand inspired by her 18-year-old son, fires up about the public’s obsession with her romantic partners, and insists the only person left that she has to prove anything to is herself.

‘It’s part of my own rebrand’. Pip Edwards has explained why she made major changes in her career, speaking to Stellar. Picture: Steven Chee for Stellar

Stellar: In August, you announced that you were stepping down from P.E. Nation, the activewear brand you co-founded with Claire Greaves in 2016. (Edwards remains a director of the brand, which Greaves left in March, with a substantial shareholding.) Why did you make that decision?

Pip Edwards: We achieved the unimaginable. It was an amazing whirlwind – 10 years of blood, sweat and tears. We’ve reached heights we never thought possible. I don’t know if we even took stock of all the amazing things we did, because we were just in “turbo mode”. The decision around [leaving] was a holistic life decision. There’s a whole lot of change going on. I actually thrive on change. I’m curious. I love creative disruption. I grow from that.

The timing of going through the rebrand for P.E. Nation [in May, Edwards revealed the brand’s new aesthetic direction at Australian Fashion Week] and seeing that go down the runway and seeing the results of that, it was tying into [what] was going on in the background for me personally with life and Justice [Edwards’ 18-year-old son with her ex-partner, Ksubi co-founder Dan Single].

And in that process, I reflected, and I grew. So it’s part of my own rebrand: Justice finishing school, and going off into the wide world – he wants to go overseas. I felt that the timing of this whole change was all fitting in holistically.

Listen to the full interview with Pip Edwards on the latest episode of the Stellar podcast, Something To Talk About:

Picture: Steven Chee for Stellar

Stellar: Shortly after, you announced your return to Australian fashion and denim label Ksubi as creative director – a full-circle moment given that you worked for the brand at the start of your career. Why did this feel like the right move for you?

Pip Edwards: Ksubi [is] a huge global brand that’s based in America. That’s where my son wants to live … I might spend more time over there, and it just aligned in the way that, for once, suited me. I went from [consulting firm] PricewaterhouseCoopers to Ksubi as Dan’s PA. Then I moved into the PR department for a few years and then they put me into womenswear. What people don’t know is that while I was studying commerce at Sydney University, I had a retail job with Marcs: I was the muse for the diffusion collection “Baby Doll” and it was based on denim. I look back at my whole career: so at uni, I was learning practical denim knowledge on the ground in retail at Marcs; I then go to Ksubi, anchored in denim; I then go to Sass & Bide, anchored in denim; I then go to General Pants, anchored in denim.

It’s almost like the detour was P.E. Nation. [At P.E. Nation] we disrupted the market, we had global recognition, we really resonated with women – we gave them confidence.

We turned activewear and athleisure on its head. It became a wardrobe staple.

Pip Edwards presented the rebrand of P.E. Nation at Australian Fashion Week in May, before exiting the brand she co-founded months later. Picture: Richard Dobson

Picture: Getty Images

‘I’m more interesting than my boyfriends!’ Pip Edwards. Picture: Getty Images

Stellar: So rejoining Ksubi at the same time Justice was finishing school wasn’t a coincidence – it was aligned?

Pip Edwards: It was – very much. The funny thing is Justice has this new-found love for the brand. He’s obsessed with Ksubi – it’s his dad’s creation. It’s in his genes, no pun intended. Literally. What Ksubi has done overseas – especially in America, which Justice has this affinity to [because of] the basketball, urban vibe – it’s almost like we both gravitated in that way. [It’s] already got an incredible base. It’s got a global footprint.

A big thing for me is leading design innovation, so I’m going right from the beginning to the end but it’s not changing. I really want Ksubi to be that global success from my time back in Ksubi. It was the pinnacle, and all I want is for that to be it again but fully globally.

Earlier this year, you appeared on the cover of Stellar with your close friend, Australia’s former foreign minister Julie Bishop, celebrating the strength of female friendship. Another close friend is Jackie “O” Henderson, who recently released her memoir, in which she revealed for the first time that she entered rehab after struggling with addiction.

Jackie O is one of the most humble, interested, invested females I’ve ever met. Who she is and how she speaks, she’s that on the street.

We’re spiritually aligned, emotionally connected. It’s honest. I think that really shines through in how we interact, even if it’s on Instagram. I just will forever have her back.

Pip Edwards and her close friend, Jackie O, at the opening of Nadia Bartel’s Henne store in Sydney. Picture: Henne

You’ve both spoken of the power and bravery in being vulnerable and sharing your stories in the hope of helping others.

I think for her it was extremely healing and it was time for her to stand in her truth. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. And to all the critics out there, f*ck off. Sorry.

The night Jackie released the story on radio, I went to her house to be with her and give her a big hug and she shared with me the quote that Gemma [O’Neill, Jackie O’s best friend] gave her about being in the “arena”.

The Brené Brown [quote about] being in the arena and knowing that there are always the cheap seats, the people that stand back – they’ll always throw their comments, throw their judgments, but they’re not getting marred, they’re not getting seen. And every day, that person in the arena stands up and shows up every time.

Pip Edwards is on the cover of Stellar, out on Sunday. Picture: Steven Chee for Stellar

Whether it’s failure or victory, she’s doing it. That’s why Jackie and I have that amazing connection – because we’re in the arena with integrity and purpose and rawness. I got home that night and I’m so impressed with this quote I tell it to Justice.

And I’m like, “Be in the arena.” And he looks at me [and says] “Mum, there’s a Theodore Roosevelt quote that also says that and his version was the man in the arena.” It’s the same kind of thing, you know? Don’t worry about the critics in the seats. I think that’s what we’ve got to remember – we’re putting ourselves on the line every time.

We’re showing up to work. We’re good women. We’re raising our children. That’s what people don’t see. All they want to see is that clickbait story that brings someone down. And yet, they’re “private” on Instagram – they don’t show anything. I’ll happily be in the arena every day of the week.

Listen to the full interview with Pip Edwards on the latest episode of the Stellar podcast, Something To Talk About:

Picture: Steven Chee for Stellar

Do you find the narrative that a woman’s love life is the most interesting thing about her immensely frustrating?

I don’t know what’s so interesting about my boyfriends. I think I’m more interesting [laughs]. When you quote me on that, can you quote that with a bit of laughter? I was being quite funny there. Respect to the ex-boyfriends, but there are way more interesting things and more layers to me than that. And if that’s how [the paparazzi] want to portray me for clickbait, that’s on them and it’s actually on the audience, too.

And anyone that meets me knows that that sh*t doesn’t even touch the sides. It’s kind of like, why aren’t you seeing the woman that’s had an incredible career trajectory in an industry, worked for some incredible businesses, made some kind of inroads, raised a child on her own, independently, financially, who’s a great friend, who’s got energy?

I mean, I know I’m talking about myself here but I kind of have to – because all of that gets wiped by some man that I happen to have some experience with. I’ve come to terms with it, it’s fine – but I’ll happily now just talk about the real sh*t.

You’ve been a trailblazer in talking publicly about your experience with perimenopause, which you spoke about with Stellar in March 2023, revealing that you were just 39 when you first started getting symptoms. Do you think we’re any closer to destigmatising it?

I think we’re getting somewhere. I think the conversation is happening, because I’m doing a lot more talking about it. I think that’s the whole thing – that conversation is important because not one woman experiences the same symptoms, nor do they correlate.

I’m still learning more, because my symptoms are changing again. So it’s a never-ending conversation. It’s a work in progress and it requires all women to talk.

We talk about our periods. We talk about men. We should be talking about it, because every woman is different and that experience and that sharing of knowledge is priceless.

Because the doctors don’t all know. There was that stigma for a long time: don’t do HRT [hormone replacement therapy]. That [stigma] made me go through a severe amount of symptoms for a long time, because I did go down the natural road. I did acupuncture, I went to a nutritionist, I tried to change my exercise. I did all the things and I persevered for a long time, but it didn’t work. Then I went on HRT and I got my life back. I’m still on HRT, still working, riding the waves of change. It’s all about change, isn’t it?

At 44 years old, do you feel like you’re just getting started?

I’m about to, in one way, with my son – like reaching the milestone of parenting. I’ll always be his mother, but getting a son to 18 and having that solo journey, doing that, it’s a lot and I’ve had to really reflect on that and what that means for me, and what’s going to drive my next chapter. The best thing about being 44 and having got my son to 18 [is] I’m in my skin and I’m unashamedly, unapologetically, energetically me.

Take it or leave it. And I don’t want to hide anymore. I don’t want to censor anything. I don’t need to filter anything. Proof is in the pudding. I’ve ticked my boxes with work. I’ve raised a beautiful son who is the most balanced, measured, sensitive, funny, charismatic – all the things. I’m proud. So now I make myself proud, you know?

Before it’s been an external validation. I don’t need to externally validate anymore. It’s like, instead of proving people wrong I’m now going to prove myself right. And if anything, don’t prove – improve.

The full cover shoot with Pip Edwards originally appeared in Stellar via The Sunday Telegraph (NSW), Sunday Herald Sun (VIC), The Sunday Mail (QLD) and Sunday Mail (SA). Her episode of Something To Talk About is available now, wherever you get your podcasts. 

Originally published as Pip Edwards on leaving P.E. Nation, her next move and why ‘I’m more interesting than my boyfriends’