We all have a go-to drawer of favorite pieces we wear again and again, neglecting the majority of our wardrobe, the majority of the time.
Matteau founders, sisters Ilona Hamer and Peta Heinsen, want to make pieces for this minority section — for the go-to staples we come back to again and again. The brand isn’t ‘fashion’, per se, says Hamer, who also works as a stylist (instead, they call it a “lifestyle” label). “We all have those two drawers of the clothes that we actually wear,” she says. “The whole wardrobe could go away, but you have those two drawers. A lot of people that we know say they’re full of Matteau. That’s what we like to hear.”
This wardrobing philosophy was on full display on November 15, when friends of the brand gathered in Paris (during photography fair Paris Photo) to celebrate the launch of Matteau’s 360-page coffee table book, Warm, which celebrates 10 years of the brand. On the cool evening, guests wore Matteau cashmere tucked into the brand’s relaxed jeans; some threw a blazer on top.
But it didn’t start this way. When the Australian-born sisters launched Matteau a decade ago, they made bikinis. Three swim tops, three swim briefs; the goal was to fill the gap for a good, simple bikini. Heinsen recalls Hamer, who worked at Vogue Australia at the time, complaining to her while packing for a trip. “She said, ‘You know what? For everything that comes across my desk at Vogue, you would think I could find a simple black bikini.’” (The brand name, a portmanteau of ‘matt’, the finish, and ‘eau’, the French word for water, reflects the founders’ solution.)
In the early 2010s, there were few high-quality yet affordable swimwear options locally. Though the likes of Net-a-Porter shipped to Australia, custom fees were high, making international brands tough to get hold of. “As much as we love Eres, in Australia, it would be like $500 or $600 for a bathing suit [once the fees were added],” Heinsen says.
This filling-a-gap ethos has carried the founders through to today. “We felt like we were answering a need,” Heinsen continues. “So we were like, OK, how do we start to fill gaps in the Matteau woman’s wardrobe for her trips for summer? We’ve evolved in much that way through the whole [journey].” Ready-to-wear now makes up 87% of Matteau’s annual revenues, but the category began much as the bikinis did: a three-item drop, starting with a sundress, a shirt and cropped trousers.
Ten years in, Matteau’s RTW offering is robust. Ruched summer dresses are staples, as are boxy long-sleeve white cotton tees. Classic tailored shirts and relaxed jeans feature heavily. Swim remains a core part of the offer, however. “We’ve really just been adding the gaps in our own wardrobe,” Heinsen says. This is what informs the founders’ approach to growth as they set forth on the brand’s second decade, plotting category expansion to better cover their own wardrobes and those of their customers.
Doing what works
Matteau is self-funded, and has been profitable since its second year of operation (the founders declined to provide turnover figures). The priority has always been to grow within its means. This meant no paid advertising for the first five years of business (their first paid-for ads were during Covid), and still means never rushing a launch. “We don’t want to be killing ourselves in the process,” Heinsen adds.
Because Matteau’s clients have said they like to rebuy certain shapes in fresh colors and prints, it would be silly not to repeat designs, the founders say. It guarantees sales, and is financially beneficial as it reuses existing patterns. “We redo the same dresses a lot of the time,” Hamer says. “They’re great dresses. We know people who own five or six or 10 of them, they buy a new one every season.” And if a subset of consumers are fans, chances are it’ll be a hit with newer customers, too.
This understanding of what women want to wear (on repeat) stems from the sisters’ own experiences over the past decade, Heinsen says. “[When we started] Ilona was in her 20s, I was in my 30s; she’s now in her 30s, I’m now in my 40s,” Heinsen says. “So over that time, we’ve gone through our 20s, 30s and 40s with the brand, and we’ve learnt a lot about how women dress.” The 25 to 54 bracket is Matteau’s key market, making up about 90% of its customers. “We know who we’re talking to and what she wants — and what she needs on her trip.”
It’s also, in part, to thank for Matteau’s shift back to a more direct-to-consumer (DTC) business. After launching as a DTC brand, Matteau fast became heavy on wholesale as the founders pursued international discovery and growth. Early days were 80% wholesale vs 20% DTC; the split then remained 70-30 for a while, Heinsen says. Lately, though, the DTC channel has been growing rapidly, edging into 50-50 territory. The last financial year closed at 51% wholesale vs 49% DTC, with Heinsen expecting the latter to hit about 55% in fiscal 2026.
“It’s done a complete flip,” says Heinsen, before clarifying that wholesale isn’t shrinking (Matteau’s latest Paris showroom was one of its best yet), but that DTC is simply growing at a much faster rate. It’s a good spot to be in, rounding out 2025, as multi-brand retail wages on through the turbulence.
Beyond the beach
Matteau may have been created for the beach, but the brand has expanded well beyond resortwear. “We’ve always been more of a summer brand, but we’re now addressing that more seasonal thing,” Heinsen says. “She’s not just doing summer breaks; she’s doing city breaks in the winter, or just spring in the city.” In 2024, Matteau launched cashmere and jeans, and has a Mackintosh trench coming out in its next drop.
Incorporating more winter elements is also a necessary step in establishing Matteau as an international fashion brand, versus an Aussie summer go-to. “It’s hard when you are a summer brand and an international brand at the same time,” Heinsen says, noting that they need to be able to talk to Australian customers about bikinis and dresses, while talking to the Northern Hemisphere client about cashmere, Mackintosh and denim.
Australia makes up 60% of the brand’s DTC sales, while 75% of international DTC sales are from the US. Wholesale, on the other hand, is made up of 85% international sales (primarily the US, Europe and the UK) and 15% domestic Australian sales. Hamer, who moved to New York shortly after co-founding Matteau, is now based in California, while Heinsen remains in Australia. Having established the brand in their two home markets, the pair are now looking to up Matteau’s UK and European penetration (while continuing to grow in the US).
Matteau is planning for this international growth on the backend, opening international distribution centers across its markets (a US warehouse in December 2023; a European distribution center in Paris in March 2025; and a UK warehouse is now in the works, targeting summer 2026). “It’s been amazing to have these distribution points in light of a lot of the things going on around duties and taxes and being able to land goods,” Heinsen says.
In addition to creating options for women in both hemispheres, Matteau is expanding its categories to develop more brand touchpoints. First up is eyewear, launching on 8 December with three shapes, in true Matteau fashion. Also in development is footwear, which will likely launch in the second half of 2026. For both the eyewear and footwear, Matteau brought on design consultants from respective fields. “We’re not experts in those areas at all,” Heinsen concedes. “It’s been really nice to work with and learn from those partners.”
Looking forward, the sisters are keen to find a physical store for Matteau. Hamer recalls Matteau’s Paris showroom, on a corner in the Marais. “It looked like a store and people who were walking past were just sort of coming in to shop and we were like, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry. Do you have an appointment?’” When they didn’t, the founders went to introduce the brand — but found they didn’t need to. “Pretty much everyone knew us,” Hamer smiles. “So we know the appetite is there.”
It’s a matter of finding the right space, whichever continent that may be on — and the sisters have no plans to rush it.
Correction: Matteau’s US warehouse opened in 2023; its Paris warehouse opened in 2025.
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