Cotton On

Cotton On Group
Privately owned
Industry Fashion
Founded Geelong, Australia
Founder Nigel Austin
Headquarters Geelong, Australia
Area served
 Worldwide
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
Website http://www.cottonon.com

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.[1]

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 1991, with the first store being opened in Geelong, Australia.[2] As of 2013, the Cotton On chain has over 1000 stores worldwide.[3] As of 2011 the company employed around 5,500 people.[4]

The company was established by Nigel Austin in Geelong, Australia, at the time it only sold women's clothing. The original Cotton On offer has expanded to intimates, sleepwear and activewear with Cotton On Body, children’s fashion with Cotton On Kids, footwear with Rubi shoes, and gifts and stationery with Typo.[5]

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.[6]

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.

Brands

Cotton On also operates 8 other brand names.

Worldwide stores

Cotton On has over several stores worldwide, among of which exists between Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Greece and Hong Kong.

Singapore

Cotton On have several outlets, among of which it is Rubi, Typo, T-bar and Factorie.

South Korea

Cotton On had opened one megastore at Gyeonggi, on February 2014; in addition to another megastore on December 2014 at Gwangjeon and Gangnam areas.

Belgium

Cotton On's Factorie also opened at Antwerp, Belgium on 11 January 2014.

Netherlands

Cotton On had opened one store at Rotterdam on 15 February 2014.

China

Cotton On had opened one megastore at Wenzhou on 19 June 2014, and at Sifang on 11 January 2015 which is under Rubi. Cotton On has plans to open various stores in China considering the high-speed railway chase in the past.

Italy

Cotton On had opened one megastore at Savigliano on 10 February 2011. Most stores sell Rubi Interstellar 1.0 trainer sports shoes.

Germany

Cotton On had 41 known stores:

United Kingdom

Cotton On have several outlets, among of which it is Rubi, Typo, T-bar and Factorie. Most of the Cotton On clothing stores are found in London (such as Piccadilly Circus), including their suburbs.

United States

Cotton on has several stores in the United States including Cotton On Kids and Typo, with their flagship store in Santa Monica, CA at the Third Street Promenade.

The company worldwide

Number of stores as of 2015[7]

Asia:

Middle East:

Europe:

Oceania:

Africa:

[*] - Denotes that it is only a "basic" Cotton On shop.

The Cotton On Foundation

The Cotton On Foundation[8] 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.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Oliver, Melinda. "Cotton On snaps up fast-fashion brand Supré amid influx of overseas retailers". Smart Company. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  2. ↑ "Cotton On About". Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  3. ↑ "Cotton Store Locations". Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  4. ↑ "About Cotton On". cottonon.com.
  5. ↑ "Cotton On takes street monopoly". Fashion Source (Melbourne). 9 February 2012.
  6. ↑ "I support the Bangladeshi factory workers". Oxfam Australia (Sydney). 27 May 2013.
  7. ↑ Cotton On About Us
  8. ↑ "Empowering Youth". Cotton On Foundation. 1 November 2007. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  9. ↑ "Cotton On fined for selling flammable kids pyjamas". ABC News. ABC. 19 December 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2014.