Cotton Traders Careers

Our feet are firmly planted in England’s rugby pitches

Fran and Steve first met playing rugby at Loughborough PE College, and both went on to earn their first caps for England by 1973. By 1980, they’d both been on prestigious England tours across the world, and were part of Bill Beaumont’s Grand Slam team!

1987 - Cotton Traders was founded

From a tiny office at the back of Altrincham railway station, the guys risked everything with their first advert in the Sunday paper – an ad known as The White Story that became one of the most successful adverts in the history of ‘off the page’.

Steve Smith

Chairman & Co-founder

Our feet are firmly planted in England’s rugby pitches

From a tiny office at the back of Altrincham railway station, the guys risked everything with their first advert in the Sunday paper – an ad known as The White Story that became one of the most successful adverts in the history of ‘off the page’.

The early 90s brought with them Cotton Traders’ first replica licensing agreement with the Rugby Football Union, first in partnership with England, swiftly followed by Wales and South Africa.

A catalogue of
successes

1998

Cotton Traders opens its first retail store at Cheshire Oaks and goes on to open countless more nationwide. In 2000, the guys open a retail outlet in an unusual location – a garden centre! – and go on to open 50 more across the UK.

2002

The turn of the millennium saw the business go online, with the clothing collections quickly expanding, and eventually we start to ship internationally due to popular demand from ex-pats and customers overseas. Today, we have dedicated websites for our Australian, International and Irish customers, and proudly launched in North America in 2018.