Nigel Austin
Overview
- Source of Wealth
- Retail
- Industry
- Fashion & Retail
- Residence
- Melbourne
- Marital Status
- Married
- Children
- 6
Biography
Nigel Austin is the founder and majority owner of the Cotton On clothing and stationery group. Its brands include Cotton On, Supre, Factorie and Typo.
His company has close to 1,300 stores in 17 countries with 2025 revenue of around $1.5 billion.
About half of these stores are in Australia, while the other half are spread across countries such as Singapore, South Africa and the U.S.
Founded in 1991, Austin started selling acid-washed denim jackets from the trunk of his car in his hometown southwest of Melbourne.
Now it sells inexpensive fashion basics, including T-shirts, leggings, sweatpants, shoes and underwear, as well as quirky stationery.
About
Austin's late father, Grant Austin, ran a publicly traded clothing wholesale and import business called the Austin Group, where Austin would spend school holidays working.
In 1991 Austin set up his first store in a small space behind a butcher shop run by his grandfather and sourced merchandise from his father.