"We chose not to tell the story as a defensive mechanism while we were trying to grow," says co-owner Ashley Hardwick, 40, who was still at university when he started helping his cousin with the bookkeeping in 1992. "They don't and never have disclosed profit and you can't see at all through their accounts," lamented one competitor.īut Austin, his cousins Ashley and Michael Hardwick and their trusted lieutenant, chief executive Peter Johnson, have finally decided to lift the lid, disclosing for the first time the size of the company, its growth strategy and its ambition to become the world's dominant value fashion retailer. Rivals curse the fact that COG keeps its accounts away from prying eyes by using a series of discretionary trusts for each of its eight brands. It's one of only a handful of domestic retailers that have successfully ventured overseas.Īustin has deliberately avoided publicity in the past, and the scale of the group's operations is known to few outsiders, even in the close-knit Geelong community where Cotton On's global operations are still based. It's a relatively young and determined company who have no set boundaries and who know their customer intimately."Ĭotton On Group is now bigger than Solomon Lew's Premier Investments, which owns Just Jeans, Dotti, Portmans and Jay Jays, the Country Road / Witchery / Mimco group and even surf and skate wear retailer Billabong International. "It has a singular focus on every day, edited basics that are fashion focused at an exceptional price and quality. "Cotton On is a true Australian new generation success story," retail expert and former David Jones chief executive Paul Zahra says. With almost 760 stores in Australia alone, the homegrown casual fashion factory arguably has more influence on what we and our kids wear on the weekend that any other fashion chain. Sales have risen more than 20 per cent a year for at least five years and are forecast to reach $1.51 billion this year, seemingly unaffected by the invasion of international fast-fashion chains such as Sweden's H&M, Inditex's Zara, Arcadia Group's TopShop and Japan's Uniqlo. Now 44, Austin is still selling denim jackets – as well as T-shirts, jeans, checked shirts, dresses, sweaters, bras, undies and homewares – but his Cotton On Group retail empire has grown from just two stores in 1991 to more than 1300 stores across eight brands in 19 countries including the US and South Africa. "The next week I sold all 20 and made $200 – I thought that was pretty addictive," Austin says.Ĭotton On chief executive Peter Johnson and chief financial officer Michael Hardwick have disclosed for the first time the size of the company, its growth strategy and its ambition to become the world's dominant value fashion retailer. Undeterred, he went back to his supplier, who just happened to be his father, the late clothing wholesaler Grant Austin, and negotiated a better deal. In the first week he sold just one jacket for $30, barely enough to pay for lunch and petrol. Nigel Austin was studying business at university when, in need of cash, he started selling acid-wash denim jackets from the boot of his car at the markets in Geelong almost 24 years ago.
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