The tectorial membrane (TM) is an extracellular matrix (ECM) that overlies the organ of Corti in the inner ear and is crucial for our sense of hearing. It is composed of collagen fibrils embedded in a tectorin-based matrix. The precise alignment of the collagen fibrils across the TM is a feature considered critical for hearing, but very little is known about how this pattern is generated. On p. 3978, Richard Goodyear and colleagues undertake a detailed analysis of TM development in mice and begin to investigate the mechanisms underlying collagen-fibril orientation. They find that the presence of a tectorin-based matrix is essential for the normal co-alignment and orientation of the first-forming collagen fibrils, and that collagen-fibril orientation does not seem to depend on stretch of the ECM caused by growth of the underlying epithelium. Rather, the authors identify an influence of the planar cell polarity machinery, generally associated with cell-cell alignment, on collagen fibril orientation – although the molecular mechanisms underlying this remain unclear. These data provide first insights into how TM patterning is achieved, and point to an intriguing interplay between planar cell polarity and collagen-fibril organisation.