Meet Becky Morton, the woman behind peony – the boutique Australian label with a passion for sustainability. Her swimwear is made using recycled materials and looks and feels like a summer dream, so naturally, we wanted to hear her story. We played the game ‘Did We Just Become Best Friends?’ because what better way to break the ice and get to know someone than by asking intimate questions about their fears and favourite things… Turns out we’ve got a lot in common. Find out Becky's go-to karaoke song, spirit animal and other fun facts on IGTV, and watch our interview below for everything to know about peony’s more sustainable swimwear.
How did the peony label start?
“I have always been passionate about design. As a kid, I would sketch garments on notepaper during class and on napkins at restaurants. Swimwear design was particularly appealing to me because growing up it seemed that was all we wore for nine months of the year!
Although I had dreamed it, I never imagined that one day I would actually turn my passion it into a career.
After school, I studied a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Business (majoring in Marketing and International Business). Following graduation, I went on to qualify and work as a lawyer for six months.
Although I loved studying law, I found legal practice personally unsatisfying. I felt a fire in my belly for something more and soon realised that it was time to pursue my dream of starting my own swimwear brand.
Soon after that, I finished working at the law firm and peony was born in December of 2012. I launched the brand out of my bedroom at my parent’s house and started selling my designs at the local markets.”
What sets your collection apart from other designs on the market?
“Every single peony piece from the Wallflower collection is made using recycled fabrics; this includes all our printed fabrics, all custom textures and all our inner linings.
This offering is truly extraordinary on a global level and something we are incredibly proud of.
These pieces are not only more sustainable – they are beautiful, made from luxurious fabrics and are of the highest quality. We are committed to ensuring that our customers do not have to compromise on anything when they choose peony.
We like to think of our swimwear as both beautiful and good for your soul.”
When did you discover that there were more sustainable materials that could be used to make swimwear?
“In 2017, we set out to find fabrics that were more sustainable. We wanted to find fabrics that had a reduced environmental impact but did not compromise on quality.
We found there were a handful of companies offering block-coloured or printable flat fabrics made from recycled nylon. This composition is an alternative to materials made from regular nylon, which is made from non-renewable petroleum oil. The selection of fabrics was quite limited but we jumped at the opportunity to introduce these recycled fabrics into our upcoming collections.
This was our first step towards becoming more sustainable and at the time these fabrics made up 26% of our collection.
This soon progressed to more than 50%, then 70% and now we are so proud that 100% of pieces from our newest collection are made from recycled content.”
How easy was it for you to make the decision to use recycled and more sustainable materials in your products?
“It was an incredibly easy decision at first. Including block-coloured and printable fabrics made from recycled nylon within our collections simply meant replacing our existing block-coloured and printable fabrics, which were made from regular non-recycled nylon, with a much more sustainable alternative. This part was a no-brainer.
The challenge was not starting this journey but progressing beyond this point and including recycled content within all our custom textured fabrications that had become synonymous with peony. This process was filled with challenges and required us to really push the boundaries of what was possible.
Our custom knitted and textured fabrics are not readily available on the market, let alone in recycled content. Our only option here was to develop these fabrics in-house from recycled content that we sourced – a process which required significant investment and unwavering determination on the part of my team as we worked alongside our suppliers to bring these fabrics to life.
For example, our knitted rainbow jacquard fabric is made from 97% recycled content, such as regenerated plastic bottles and old carpets. This fabric is exclusive to peony and has never been created in a recycled content ever before! It is a truly extraordinary fabric that is not available anywhere else.
Fast forward to 2019, and we are incredibly proud that every single peony piece in the Wallflower collection is made from recycled and more sustainable fabric – from our custom textures to our inner linings.”
Aside from your swimwear range, in what other aspects of your business/life are you trying to be more environmentally conscious?
“I try to be environmentally conscious in everything that I do, in life and in business. There are so many things we can all do on a daily basis that lead to great impact – recycling, avoiding single use plastics, eating locally, hand washing and line drying clothing, reducing meat consumption and so on.
For peony, we will soon commence environmental impact quantification. This process will measure our carbon footprint as a business and highlight how and where we can improve. Our goal is to become a carbon neutral business by 2021. This will involve minimising our environmental impact wherever we can and purchasing offsets to negate the impact that we cannot mitigate. We look forward to sharing our findings and our progress with our community!
In terms of our journey towards sustainability, we are really proud of how far we have come but there is so much more we want to achieve. As we progress down this path, we realise there is always more to learn, new ways to adapt and endless possibilities to evolve.
We are just so grateful to everyone for the support we have been shown along the way.”

THE ICONIC is committed to enabling our customers to shop by their values through our Considered filters and tags on site. Why is it important for your products to be included in the Considered edit and information about the sustainability of products to be shared with customers?
“We are absolutely thrilled to be included within THE ICONIC’s Considered edit. These filters enable and encourage a more conscious approach to shopping by allowing customers to view products according to their values and what is important to them. This helps to shine a light on the brands that are working hard to integrate sustainability in their business and makes it easier for customers to support them.
This is an incredible initiative we are proud to be a part of. The more information we have access to, the better equipped we are to make informed purchase decisions. Knowledge is power!”
What can we expect from peony next?
“There is so much in the pipeline at the moment. We will be launching a capsule collection of resortwear and accessories using more sustainable fabrics in February next year. Beyond this you will have to wait and see! Follow us on Instagram as we share snippets of things to come…”
