Cotton On Group

1990s Cotton On was founded by Nigel Austin in 1991, with the first store being opened in Geelong, Australia. 2000s Cotton On Kids launched in 2004. It was followed by Cotton On Body, Factorie and Typo in 2007, and Rubi in 2008. Cotton On expanded internationally in 2006, with the opening of its first New Zealand store at Queensgate Shopping Centre, Lower Hutt. 2010s In December 2012, Cotton On was fined $1 million for selling highly flammable children's sleepwear misleadingly labeled 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' pajamas, 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. In October 2016, Cotton On Group signed a 3-year contract with the AFL Women's League to be the exclusive uniform supplier for all its teams. In February 2019, Cotton On began selling sex toys on its Australian and New Zealand websites with a content warning. In July 2019, Four Corners reported Cotton On and several other Australian brands sourced cotton from Xinjiang, and that evidence linked the cotton to forced labour camps. Cotton On ran an internal investigation, and in October 2019, announced it had stopped buying cotton from Xinjiang over concerns of abuse of human rights. 2020s In March 2026, Cotton On Asia Pte Ltd was liquidated and has been inactive with no impact on operations, the company had undergone rationalisation exercise since the COVID-19 pandemic. Team members from Cotton On Asia Pte Ltd were restructured during COVID-19 pandemic to another company, signalling that the old company was liquidated. ==Brands==

Cotton On Cotton On is the main brand of the Cotton On Group. It dates its origins back to Nigel Austin's first denim jacket sale in 1988. The first Cotton On branded store opened three years later. Free by Cotton On has since been discontinued and was replaced by Cotton On Kids Youth in 2020 which, instead of being an entirely separate range to Cotton On Kids, now offers the same Cotton On Kids items to customers in larger sizes (up to a size 16 in Girls and 20 in Boys). Cotton On Body Cotton On Body was launched in 2007, selling underwear and sleepwear. It later expanded into swimwear and activewear. Factorie Factorie is a youth fashion brand which was added to the Cotton On Group in 2007. It has since expanded internationally, and now has more than 160 stores across Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Rubi Rubi is a footwear and accessories brand launched in 2008. Typo Typo is a stationery brand with stores in Australia, Asia, New Zealand, the United States, the UK, and South Africa. In the UK, ASOS and WHSmith also stock select Typo products. Supré Supré was established in 1984, selling clothing for young women. It became part of the Cotton On Group in 2013, and had more than 1,000 workers across more than 100 retail stores in Australia and New Zealand at its peak. All Supré stores in NZ had been closed by 2020. Lost Cotton On Lost was launched in late 2018, but has since been phased out. The range included travel luggage and accessories. Ceres Life Ceres Life was launched in April 2020. What started out as an R&D project, it has now cemented itself as Cotton On Group's eighth brand which is aimed at 30yo+ women with a major focus on environment and sustainability, where all items in the range are sourced from responsible fabrics including recycled materials, rescued fabrics and organically grown textiles as well as eco-certified or natural fibres. ==Stores==

As of January 2025 Cotton On has 1,298 stores globally. Oceania Cotton On has 670 stores in Oceania. and 28 stores in South America. Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand. ==Loyalty program==

Cotton On's loyalty program, Cotton On Perks, has over 2.4 million members, making it one of the largest retail loyalty programs in Australia. ==References==