Our head printer has been part of the Seabreeze family since 1985. Though he’s worked in some other places along the way, Peter’s logged almost 25 years with us. We think that’s pretty good proof that we’re a decent bunch to work with.
Sun March 6th 2022
Seabreeze has had a few different owners since it was first founded. And alongside all those owners, there’s been one man who’s almost part of the furniture: Peter Malatios. All up, he's been in the garment printing business for 37 years and most of that has been with us. Nobody knows the printing process and the industry like Peter does; and as a longstanding judge for the textile categories of the New Zealand Pride in Print Awards, the industry knows him too.
What sets Peter apart is the immense pride he takes in his work. His pride and attention to detail rubs off on the people who work alongside him and are integral to Seabreeze’s reputation for top quality work. As Peter says, your company’s name is only as good as the people doing the work. At Seabreeze, our people work hard to ensure that the quality of our printing work meets the same high standards as our garments.
Peter enjoys the family culture at Seabreeze. A lot of our team have worked here together for a long time and work as a tight unit. That positive culture feeds into the work. According to Peter, “It's that attention to detail and the passion. There's a lot of pride in what you do, and I try to convey that to whoever's working for us.” That pride pays off when he sees his work out in the world. “It's a pleasure,” he says, “to see someone wearing one of your prints down the road.”
One of the areas Peter specialises in is photographic-style printing. It’s an incredibly tricky process to get right, but it’s one Seabreeze has mastered. “It's very, very hard to get everything right,” says Peter. “But we seem to have got it right through just perseverance, trial and error.”
Peter isn’t going to spill all of Seabreeze’s secrets, but he does say that the fact the company is well structured, supervised, and run is something that keeps him around. We’re not sure if Peter will still be printing in another 25 years — he already reckons he’s the oldest person still doing the job in New Zealand — but he’ll definitely still be part of the family.
