ey have navigated the rapid expansion of Stax from a start-up in the spare room of Don’s family home to a global business worth over $50 million, and welcomed sister label Secondleft in 2022. From humble beginnings as a fitness-focused apparel brand to a global business with a rapidly growing retail network, Stax’s journey showcases the power of community engagement, strategic product evolution, and adaptability in a dynamic market. Fast-forward through a global pandemic – sinking their life savings into a temporarily missing shipping container filled with stock, which sold out in just 60 seconds – Stax has solidified its position in the crowded athleisure market. From pop-ups to permanent retail spaces The strategic decision to pivot from pop-up activations to permanent retail stores reflects Stax’s commitment to deepening its connection with its community and the strategic maturation of the company. Stax’s architectural vision was conceived by Abe Salman, formerly part of Kanye West’s YZY team, and Don, the brand’s creative director. The new stores serve as more than just retail spaces; they’ve been distinctly designed as hubs for community, fostering connection through the creation of a welcoming and calming atmosphere. “Our goal was to design more than a store – it’s a place to feel at ease, connected and inspired,” Don said. Light is central to the design ethos, and an oculus light fitting diffuses tranquillity throughout the store, illuminating the elegant curves and archways that define and separate the spaces, making it easy for customers to explore and engage with the brand. A ‘boyfriend seat’ positioned near the expansive changing rooms enhances the shopping experience for all patrons and aligns with the store’s design philosophy of empathy, ensuring that every customer feels comfortable and connected when immersed in the Stax brand experience. The new retail vision marks a bold step in Stax’s journey of redefining what a retail space can be in the competitive athleisure market. Building a global brand In 2015, Don rebranded his original supplement and fitness business, Muscle Stax, to Stax and started focusing exclusively on apparel. After the gym where he worked and stocked the brand went into liquidation, and all his inventory was lost with it, he was left in heavy debt. At the core of Stax’s success is the partnership between Don, its creative director and co-owner, and his wife Matilda, the brand’s director of PR and co-owner. When Matilda first met Don in 2016, “I had absolutely no interest in Stax,” she told Inside Retail. Matilda, who had worked as a corporate recruiter before meeting Don and joining the Stax business, said,“I thought, I’ll make the money and you can just sell your tights and overpriced powdered peanut butter.” Then the recruiter became the recruited. Matilda quickly became Stax’s creative catalyst, bringing her business acumen and strategic thinking to the brand, where her influence shaped everything from product design to customer engagement, particularly in developing its womenswear. Don’s passion for Stax became contagious and Matilda said she was getting involved in the brand without even realising.Feedback from Stax’s growing community also transformed the brand, leading to improveddesigns and functionality. “Less of the DIY screen printing and more of the fashion elements and what I think women were looking for and what was lacking in the brand,” Matilda said. Taking the customer-centric approach “When I met Don I noticed right from the start that everything was for the community,” Matilda said. “No offence, Don, but the [Muscle Stax] T-shirts he was designing weren’t great but the fact that he was making them for the people he knew and the circles he was in – that I connected with,” she added. The couple has always been committed to inclusivity, offering a wide range of sizes from XXS to 4XL – something that was nearly unheard of in the athleisure market when they began. The Robertsons recognised an opportunity to cater to a market segment that felt underserved, and this became a cornerstone of the brand’s appeal. Customers noticed the brand’s commitment to inclusivity, too, and formed a loyal community to which the couple devoted themselves. “Every waking moment, we just started working on Stax, and to be honest, nothing’s changed – we’re still living and breathing it now,” Matilda said. They are driven by a desire to build relationships as opposed to just selling clothes. “Stax is more than just a pair of tights, Stax really, truly is a community, a safe space – somewhere we have created where people can come and feel welcome and feel heard,” Matilda said. “When [Matilda], ‘Til’, came into the brand, she was disinterested in Instagram – her account was private,” Don said. “I thought it was just a photo editing app,” Matilda said. “I had 18 of the same selfies withdifferent filters on. Don started telling me to post on Instagram.” Now Matilda has over 100,000 Instagram followers on her personal socials, almost double that of Don’s personal account. The business has nearly 500,000 Instagram followers and an extremely engaged audience across its digital channels, including its VIP Facebook group, boasting over 50,000 members, all nurtured by Don and Matilda from the beginning. “We’re very active in the group and do a lot of sneak peeks, early launches, and exclusive discounts,” Matilda said. “We really try to give back to our VIP customers, they are so passionate about the brand and it’sincredible to see.” “We have over half a million people whom we consider part of our community and we’ve got a lot more than that in first-time customers,” Don said. Stax recently launched a loyalty program, Club Stax, where customers can earn points with eachpurchase to redeem in the Stax Club Store. “It kind of leaked and went crazy during the Black Fridaysales period,” Don said. Matilda added, “People always want to feel like they’re a part of something. Community has been in the brand DNA right from the get-go.” Leveraging partnerships for growth One of the key drivers of Stax’s growth has been its focus on collaborations and influencer marketing. Working with well-known personalities and brands like Kic – founded by Stephanie Miller and Laura Henshaw – has allowed Stax to extend its reach by engaging with new audiences, particularly in the wellness and fitness spaces. Partnering with like-minded influencers and brands has been instrumental in bringing new customers into the Stax community. By aligning with authentic voices in the wellness and fitness sectors, Stax has built a reputation for transparency and engagement – crucial values in today’s influencer-driven market. Innovation beyond activewear As the athleisure market matures, Stax has expanded its product offerings to include more than just leggings and workout gear. The launch of Secondleft, essentially an Australian fashion house, is intended to diversify the product portfolio and enable Stax to remain focused on premium athleisure. Secondleft is a vessel for innovation, representation and inclusivity within the fashion space and “a brand for those unafraid to take a left when everybody else is turning right,” Don said. Appealing to a more fashion-forward consumer, Secondleft offers limited-edition capsules and activates a dual-brand strategy that positions the business as a lifestyle brand, allowing it to capture a broader audience. “We want Stax to be the first-choice athleisure brand in Australia, which puts Australia on the map as far as sportswear brands are concerned,” Don said. The business has hosted independent runway shows that intersect the Stax and Secondleft brands by showcasing design concepts and collections from both. The fashion shows are born from a desire to exhibit and to facilitate people immersing in an experience of music, tangible art and culture. Looking back, Don sees the shows as extensions of the new Stax retail store design concept. “The showswere one of those expressive art ideas I would have,” he said. “At the core, I’m a designer, and I just want to create and present, it’s no different to an artist that might do an abstract piece of art and just want people to look and experience it. “We love entertaining and creating an energy and our shows are a glorified passion project of expression and community. “We’ve done three or four and they just keep getting bigger and bigger,” he said. But the couple opted out of having a show in 2024, deeming it insensitive in a really tough economy. Fit for wellness and beauty sleep In 2024, the brand launched into a new category with its sleepwear collection. The global sleepwear market presents another opportunity for category growth. It was valued at US$13.9 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach US$24.3 billion in 2033, with a CAGR growth rate of 6.14 per cent. Tying in with the brand’s broader wellness ethos, sleepwear was the next logical product to offer customers, based on the notion that sleep is just as important for overall wellness as working out, if not more so. “Coming up with new and innovative products that people want to see and be excited for is always going to be key,” Matilda said. “We have so much new stuff coming, and we are thrilled about it. At the same time, we’re focused on ensuring that the community remains at the forefront. “Our community is what sets us apart as a brand. “For us, being a wellness brand means community is always going to be at the forefront,” she said, adding that listening to customers, being innovative and giving people what they want are priorities for the brand. “As a team, we’re still trying to cope with the growth of Stax and the pressures of putting retail stores together,” Matilda said. “We don’t want to bite off more than we can chew, it’s important to be mindful of growth in a tough economy. “We’ve positioned Secondleft to be our global brand and we have bigger categories that we can be more experimental in across different creative sectors. “We’re looking at a couple of different categories,” Matilda said, referencing beauty as the next venture that would provide a segue to the wellness market for the business. The wellness market was valued at US$6.8 trillion globally in 2024 and projected to reach US$9 trillion in 2028. Identifying a global opportunity Having established a strong presence in Australia, Stax has identified an opportunity in the US as the sector booms. In 2024, the global athleisure market was valued at US$393.7 million; with a CAGR of 9.7 per cent, it is anticipated to reach US$902.4 billion by 2033. “We want to represent Australia in the global athleisure conversation, just as Lululemon represents Canada, and Alo the US,” Don said. “We’re not in a rush to open international stores right now, but we are focused on online presence and growing our brand overseas in a sustainable way.” Stax’s international expansion mirrors its early Australian success – taking a measured approach, emphasising customer loyalty, and ensuring that its core values of community extend globally. “We’re not trying to scale too quickly, we want to make sure we have the right people and resources in place before we go global,” Matilda said. “I think nurturing that all as a whole is how we’ll stay ahead of the game.” Don added: “One of our brand philosophies is that we try not to concern ourselves with competitor brands. When we go down that path, we lose touch with who we are as a brand and we try to pull from things that aren’t truly us. “We are well aware of what’s happening in the market and what people are doing, but if we concern ourselves with that, we’ll lose touch with who we are. It’s important that we don’t focus too much on that space. “The big established brands, these are our peers. We look at them, and we’re inspired; we’re in the same conversation,” he said. “The brands I’m concerned about are the ones that we don’t know about yet,” he said, describing the likes of himself and Matilda starting Stax less than a decade ago. Nurturing talent and fostering innovation After a big 12 months for Stax, the future focus is on internal growth and team development. “In all honesty, I think our absolute focus right now is to make sure that the stores we’ve built are thriving and that we focus internally on the team and the business,” Don said. “You can quickly lose track of making sure that the internal team is as happy as the external and we want to make sure we focus on the business internally first. “Our next biggest phase is making sure the staff are happy, well looked after and that they’ve got good career progression. The Robertsons are particularly keen on fostering new design talent to help grow and elevate the Stax and Secondleft brands. They envision an incubation model, to discover and nurture talent who will bring fresh perspectives to continue the brand’s innovation. “I want to create this incubation idea internally, where we’re bringing on the best possible people to push the next generation of Stax,” Don said. “That’s a huge focus for us at the moment.” Matilda said: “Doing everything that we do now, just like a little bit better, is the goal for 2025.” That said, in the first quarter of 2025, Stax will evolve its brand to be more firmly positioned as a leader in the wellness space. This will include completely new product aesthetics and designs, with more variety and strategy in how the business presents the product offering. “We’re going to have a completely new presentation of how we do social media,” Matilda explained. “I think people are going to be quite excited about our brand’s evolution in 2025, it’s going to be a vibe.” Next for Stax Stax’s journey from a humble startup to a multimillion-dollar business is a testament to the power of strategic planning, resilience, and community-building. By staying true to its values of inclusivity, customer-first experiences, and operational innovation, Stax has positioned itself as a leader in the athleisure space. As Stax continues to grow both at home and abroad, the Robertsons remain focused on the same principle that drove them from the beginning: creating a brand that is more than just activewear. For Stax, it’s about creating a community, offering comfort, and providing quality across every touchpoint, whether online or in-store. With an expanding product range, new international horizons, and a commitment to operational excellence, Stax is poised to continue rewriting the playbook for a global, community-driven brand. This story first appeared in the February 2025 issue of Inside Retail Australia magazine.