How STAX.’s Don and Matilda Robertson built activewear empire
A hugely successful Aussie couple reveals the “wild” idea that sparked a multimillion-dollar business that’s now beloved worldwide.
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Walking through Australian activewear brand STAX.’s behemoth warehouse in Banksmeadow, Sydney, it’s hard to imagine that around ten years ago the brand was operating from a spare room in founder Don Robertson’s mother’s house in Perth.
From there, the “warehouse” moved to the living room and kitchen, then to now wife, Matilda Murray Robertson’s father’s spare room, to his living room and finally to the couple’s own house.
Matilda, 32, says with a laugh they had product everywhere and it was like Sex and the City where Carrie Bradshaw kept her shoes in the oven.
In 2020, the Perth couple decided to make the big move to Sydney. They managed to secure a small storage unit that Don, 35, remembers packing orders with a torch lamp because there was no electricity. He’d then have to go outside to get Wi-Fi to find the next order.
It’s a far cry from the Sydney office I visited last week which was teeming with staff working at their desks as well as packing orders in the warehouse.
“It’s wild. We still pinch ourselves,” Matilda tells news.com.au checkout.
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‘IT’S WHY WE WAKE UP EVERYDAY’
These days, Don’s role is the Designer, Creative Director and Founder while Matilda is the Director of PR. She officially joined the business full-time eight years ago.
While the couple have been lucky, it’s also a result of years of dedication. Not every business would have two, and only, “members of the board”, as they jokingly called themselves, available to talk to customers every single day.
“Til [Matilda] and I are super involved,” Don says.
“We run the Facebook VIP group ourselves. We’re the ones doing the commentating. Our philosophy and ideas, and our community are the absolute reason we do get to what we do, and we love them so much.
“We love the conversations and we read and respond to every DM. We’re super active, not because that’s the job to do, it’s why we wake up every day and enjoy what we’re doing.”
Just the night before, Don received a DM on Instagram at 10pm from a customer in South Africa. Their order was held up in customs and they asked for Don’s help. Don, who is from South Africa and moved to Perth in 2007, says these types of incidents happen all the time and it’s something that he is always excited to help with.
’OVER A MILLION UNITS SOLD’
The number one STAX. item by far is the Nandex Original Leggings, the couple say. Selling one every minute, these are also one of Matilda’s favourite products.
The Zip Jacket is another bestseller that Don says has “blown our mind”.
“I wanted to create a product that everyone must have. You look at the most pioneering companies in the world, building businesses around one product.
“For us, the Nandex Leggings are objectively our best-selling product, but the Zip Jacket is insane as well.”
STAX. has sold over a million units of the best-selling tights, bike shorts and zip jackets to date.
Their Premium Seamless collection is also a cult buy that hundreds of women absolutely love. They have sold out of every limited edition seamless collection to date which lead them to dropping the range in an array of permanent colours due to its popularity.
It’s also the material used in the recent collaboration with Aussie fitness app, Kic. Founded by Steph Claire Smith and Laura Henshaw, this is their second collab with the activewear brand.
The brand new 26-piece collection, designed by Don with Steph Claire Smith and Laura Henshaw from Kic, features new designs and two new colourways as well as some signature STAX. pieces in the brand’s Premium Seamless fabric. The first sold out in just 30 minutes.
It’s expected to sell just as quickly as the first with the collection dropping on Friday September, 13th.
When it comes to the impact of celebrities wearing the brand, Don says it is in fact well-known Australians that generate more actual conversions.
“Local influencers, local celebs and community leaders drive more attention from a conversion perspective,” he says.
“[Big celebrities] get the conversation going. You get such a big flex and awareness piece when these people wear it. But any time a celeb respectively has worn it we haven’t seen an incredible sell out.
“We see great experiences when we team up with local people like Steph and Laura. We know that people are going to respond so well to that.”
FROM PERTH TO WORLDWIDE SUCCESS
STAX., and its sister brand, Secondleft, have 160 employees worldwide. While Australia is still their biggest market, the US, UK and New Zealand are all growing.
“It’s very fun being overseas and we get to see a spotto,” says Matilda.
“We’ve gotta be cool when we’re walking around and someone’s wearing it. We get giggly and we have to say to ourselves to ease out and be cool.”
As for celebrity endorsements, it’s hard to go past Jennifer Lopez, who was spotted wearing a matching purple STAX. set in 2021.
“J.Lo was insane for us. J.Lo and Megan Fox blew our minds. That was massive. Everyone was talking about that,” says Don.
In 2022, the couple debuted on the Financial Review Young Rich List and were reported to be worth an estimated $52 million, with the business turning over $30 million.
Plus, in 2020, the company earned $300,000 in eight minutes selling a range of “naked” activewear tights, bras and shorts.
“It was a record-breaking pre-sale,” Matilda told news.com.au at the time.
Despite this, Don says he “still doesn’t feel like (STAX.) is big.”
“I think you sort of go in and out of this zone, this vortex, where you’re like, ‘Wow, it’s massive,’ and then it’s like, ‘Oh no, you still have so much to grow.’
“I think it does become surreal when you’re travelling around the world and you see people wear it, and that blows your mind.”
“I don’t know if it ever will [feel big],” Matilda continues.
“I think that’s something that keeps us really hungry. We have so much more that we want to keep doing.”
“There’s a quote, and it’s about riding a bicycle. If you’re peddling and you just stop, you fall off. You have to continuously keep peddling. I feel like it’s like that with business as well. You have to continuously keep going for it.”
Right now, the couple, who are based in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, say that scale is their biggest challenge.
“When it’s just two people running the business we get to enjoy everything ourselves, and you go through the hard times and you’re less responsible,” says Don.
“I think a lot of the time when entrepreneurs want to start a business, they don’t necessarily think about what happens when we have now 160 staff, and they’re all relying on us to provide them with an income,” says Matilda.
“You don’t think about that when you’re just trying to sell a pair of tights out of the boot of your car in the gym car park. ”’
‘BEAUTY IN WORKING WITH YOUR PARTNER’
When asked about working together as husband and wife, Don explains that “it’s a very common question we get”.
But it makes sense that people are curious about spending all day, every day with the same person.
“Til and I’ve worked out in our relationship, and in our lives, how we operate as people,” Don says.
“We complement each other’s strengths, we strengthen each other’s weaknesses, and we’ve learned to communicate.
For Matilda, “I always say one of my favourite things about working with my husband is that at the end of the day, you can celebrate wins and work through losses or negative things together.”
“If we have an incredible day at work, you get home and we can celebrate it still,” she adds.
“If you have a partner who’s not in the same industry as you, you have to go home and explain what happened, and they’re never going to really get it 100 per cent. They’ll, be happy for you, but they don’t have that same celebration.”
Similarly, Don says it’s a “special thing” that a lot of people simply don’t understand.
“Most people don’t see the beauty in working with your partner,” he says.
“You get to be in each other’s lives and celebrate the victories.”
‘MOST INCLUSIVE ACTIVEWEAR BRAND IN THE WORLD’
“We’re very proud of being the first brand to be the most inclusive activewear brand in the world,” says Don.
STAX. is available in size XXS to 4XL, or size four to size 24.
For Don, this was personal to him.
“I particularly remember going to shop, well window shop, at a designer store. I wanted to buy a 2XL T-shirt, and I couldn’t find it. And the way they looked at me and made me feel in that environment, everything just clicked.
“And I thought we have to create something where people can be part of the conversation.”
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