Cotton On

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.

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. 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. 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.

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.

Brands
Cotton On also operates 6 other brand names.


 * Cotton On Body - women's lingerie and sleepwear
 * Cotton On Kids - childrens clothing
 * Rubi Shoes - shoes, bags, jewellery and accessories
 * Typo - homeware, craft and stationery
 * T-bar
 * Factorie