This is Not a Drill: Au Coton is Making a Comeback

Chances are, if you spent any time in Canadian malls during the 1980s or ‘90s, you’ll remember Au Coton. Essentially the American Apparel of its day, Au Coton specialized in simple cotton sweatshirts in a wide array of pastel colours. Their version of sweatpants chic predated the athleisure boom by a good three decades.

At the height of their popularity, Au Coton had 170 stores in Canada and 96 in the US, but their success was ultimately short-lived. In 1993, the brand went into bankruptcy protection and closed all international stores. They remained in the Canadian market until 2003, when all remaining stores shuttered after the brand could no longer compete with conglomerate big box stores like Gap or Old Navy.

According to a Facebook announcement issued yesterday, Au Coton is being resurrected and will open a store on Amherst St. in Montreal next Monday. From the images currently available, the collection appears to be standard-issue crewneck sweatshirts bearing the Au Coton logo, but we’re hoping for a wider offering available in-store.

FASHION’s beauty director Lesa Hannah remembers Au Coton as the cooler, en francaisversion of another memorable Canadian mall brand, Cotton Ginny: “In Grade 9, I was the proud owner of an Au Coton navy sweatshirt (of course it was oversized) that I wore with a white turtleneck to match the logo. I also had a perm and the combination was just late ‘80s perfection.”

The website is slated to launch June 24^th. We can’t wait to see what kind of fresh basics the Au Coton redux will offer.