‘A true full-circle moment’: Pip Edwards announces her next move after P.E Nation exit

Nathan Jolly

September 6, 2024 8:31

‘A true full-circle moment’: Pip Edwards announces her next move after P.E Nation exit

Pip Edwards has announced she will return to fashion brand Ksubi as creative director – a move she called “a true full-circle moment”.

This comes less than a month since Edwards announced she was stepping down as creative director at P.E Nation, the $15 million brand she launched in 2016, in order to “pursue new creative challenges”.

Edwards worked at Ksubi in the early ’00s, but actually met Ksubi’s CEO Craig King while working at General Pants.

“As fate would have it, today I’m announcing my return to Ksubi as Creative Director—a true full-circle moment,” Edwards announced on Instagram.

Pip Edwards and Craig King

“From its inception, Ksubi has been at the core of the global cultural zeitgeist, thriving at the intersection of where fashion, art, and music meet.

“Having been part of the original crew 20 years ago, I’m so excited to join the talented team at Ksubi once again and contribute to their already impressive global success.”

Edwards spoke at Mumbrella360 earlier this year about the mental stress of launching P.E Nation.

“I was 35, a single mum, raising a young nine-year-old boy, solo, working full-time as design director at General Pants,” she said.

“My nights were the only time I had to hatch P.E Nation,” she recalled.

“And most weeknights would see me up to 3am. I did this for a solid year, and ran on pure adrenaline and the few hours of sleep in between.

“On weekends, Claire [Greaves], my co-founder and I, would work on product design, brand strategy, our plans for marketing it, mood-boarding, and how we were going to sell it in globally and nationally. It really was around the clock, and we never were not working.

“I was not only working around the clock, but networking within the industry, attending the right events, and always mingling and building important relationships,” she recalls of the early years of the business.

“It did not stop. But the reality is, it’s not sustainable long term, and even short term – it’s not for everybody.

“I’m wired to be unstoppable, and once I connect and attach to a purpose, I go for it,” she says. “The determination and perseverance to make P.E Nation happen ran through every inch of my being. It was like blood in my veins, and there was no other option.

“Nothing was going to stop me. And I make this point, today, because I feel it’s a really vital ingredient to a founder and start-up success, that that purpose connection, whatever it is, is all you need to keep pushing to get through and do it.”