Cotton Traders is a British garments company, specialising in rugby clothing and leisurewear, based in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, England. It absolutely was established in 1987 by previous England national rugby union staff captains Fran Cotton and Steve Smith.
History[edit]
Cotton dealers ended up being started by former England rugby people Fran Cotton and Steve Smith in 1987. The company is one of British's multi-channel stores, employing over a 1000 staff with a yearly gross turnover of more than £91million.
The company began in a tiny area next to Altrincham railroad place, supplying rugby tops via mail order using ads in Sunday newspapers. After 2 yrs the business enterprise had an annual turnover of £2million. New varies covering leisurewear and casual clothes for males and women, footwear and add-ons had been added. Clothes retailer bought a share of this business in 1997.
Cotton Traders operates 125 retail stores all over the country in traditional, retail outlets, yard centres, airports and motorway services locations. They also offer an overseas distribution service.
The business runs from four primary buildings in Altrincham and a circulation center in Pontefract. Cotton Traders home is in charge of the management of the company. The nearby functions website addresses customer service together with inserting of client requests through the telephone. In 2006 a vacant workplace opposite Cotton Traders home was purchased plus 2012 a fourth building had been added. Hq divisions are split between Cotton Traders home, Cotton Mill (formerly Neptune home) and Cotton Hub.
In 2014, Cotton and Smith bought straight back the 33percent share of Cotton dealers held by After that, regaining complete ownership associated with the business.
Logo legal action[edit]
Cotton Traders had been the state suppliers of rugby system towards the Rugby Football Union (RFU) between 1991 and 1997, including supplying the rugby shirts donned by the England national rugby union staff. As the state supplier, Cotton dealers additionally produced replica shirts on the market to the public. Following the loss in the agreement to Nike in 1997, Cotton Traders carried on making a rugby clothing accessible in the model of the English nationwide group, specifically a white clothing with a red flower emblem regarding chest. This culminated in a legal situation becoming brought against Cotton dealers by the RFU and Nike in 2002, wanting to ban the purchase of whatever they deemed 'unauthorised merchandise'. A higher Court judge ruled towards Cotton Traders in the event, citing the classic design rose utilized on the Cotton Traders shirt was involving The united kingdomt as a country or group and never the RFU specifically, and as such it might not be subscribed as a trade mark.