Type Privately owned Area served Worldwide Founder Nigel Austin CEO Peter Johnson (2004–) | Industry Fashion Headquarters Geelong, Australia Founded 1991 | |
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Key people Peter Johnson (CEO)
Nigel Austin Products Clothing, cosmetics, kids clothing, house decor Divisions Cotton On Body
Cotton On Kids
Rubi Shoes
Typo
T-bar
Factorie Subsidiaries Supré, Cotton On South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Supre Pty Ltd Parent organization Cotton On Group Services Pty Ltd. Profiles | ||
Cotton On is an Australian retail chain, known for its fast-fashion clothing for men, women, teenagers and children. It has almost 1200 stores in 12 countries and employs 17,000 staff in Australia and internationally.
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Cotton On also operates Cotton On Body, Cotton On Kids, Rubi Shoes, Typo, T-bar and Factorie and owns Supré.
History
Cotton On was founded in 1992, with the first store being opened in Geelong, Australia. As of 2013, the Cotton On chain has over 1000 stores worldwide. As of 2011 the company employed around 5,500 people.
The company was established by Nigel Austin in Geelong, Australia, at the time it only sold women's clothing. Since January 2006, it had expanded with Cotton On Body and Cotton On Kids in 2007. It expanded to Typo (stationery and gifts), and also Rubi Shoes in February 2008.
The design team in the company's Australian office controls the steps of production from merchandise planning to establishing specifications, and production is outsourced to approximately 150 factories in Europe and Asia. These facilities are used for horizontal division of labor rather than being integrated.
After the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh in April 2013, Cotton On, along with other major Australian retailers, became the focus of a campaign by Oxfam Australia to get the company to sign the Bangladesh Fire and Safety Accord.
In 2013, Cotton On acquired Australian fast-fashion brand Supré and plans to expand the brand internationally.
Cotton On hired Australian TV personality Lara Bingle to be the spokesperson of their One launch, which offered comfortable cotton basic shirts offered in a variety of necklines including V-neck, scoop and crew. Lara Bingle has also designed swimwear for the Australian Brand under their Body label.
As of November 10, 2016 Cotton On, through the COAR: range, will be the on and off-field apparel sponsor of the Geelong Football Club.
Brands
Cotton On also operates 8 other brand names.
The company worldwide
Number of stores as of September 2016
[*] - Denotes that it is only a "basic" Cotton On shop.
The Cotton On Foundation
The Cotton On Foundation Goal is to educate 20,000 people from Southern Uganda by the year 2020.
Controversy
In December 2012 Cotton On was fined $1 million for selling highly flammable children's sleepwear misleadingly labelled as low fire danger. The discount clothing retailer, which has more than 900 outlets across the country, was fined $400,000 for selling more than 1000 nightdresses that breached Australian fire safety standards, and a further $400,000 for selling more than 1000 unsafe pairs of girls' pyjamas, between September and December 2010. It was fined a further $200,000 for false and misleading labels on both sets of clothing items which claimed they were low fire danger.