Nigel Austin

Nigel Austin (born 24 September 1970) is an Australian business and horse racing entrepreneur. Austin is the founder and 90% majority owner of the Cotton On Group clothing and stationery group with brands including Cotton On, Supre, Factorie and Typo.

Early life Austin grew up in Geelong, Victoria. Austin's late father, Grant Austin, ran a publicly traded clothing wholesale and import business called the Austin Group, where Austin started out learning about the fashion industry in his school holidays. In his first outing at the market he sold one jacket for $30. The following week he returned with a cheaper offer, after he negotiated with his father who was the supplier, which resulted in all 20 selling out. Austin enrolled in university to study business but dropped out after a year to focus on his growing garment business. Money is raised through selling specially branded merchandise in group stores such as bracelets, water bottles and tote bags. His current wife is Melanie Austin.

Austin is involved in horse racing and owns Rosemont Stud, over in Gnarwarre and Ceres, Victoria. The logo of the stud is a red and white gatecrasher, that originally was the logo for the Cotton On chain in its early years.

Net worth In 2017, Forbes Asia assessed Austin's net worth at 1.36 billion. , The Australian Financial Review assessed his net worth at 2.42 billion.

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