COS buildings
Our buildings are much more than simply a place to house our collections. They’re part of the COS experience. Whether it’s a flagship store or small pop-up, our in-house interior team consider every detail to bring you destinations of design.
Since our first store opened in London, we’ve taken COS to many places around the world. Our iconic buildings can now be seen in New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, Tokyo, Seoul and Paris – to name a few.
As we broaden our horizons, we must reinvent the definition of our spaces and how we can create them by addressing the impact they have. Our aim, together with the H&M Group, is to design interiors and construction materials so they can be reused, repaired or recycled by 2030.
Here is how we are taking action at COS:
For three years, COS has been running a take back and reuse programme for store interiors. We opened our store in Edinburgh with 60% of the shop fitting coming directly from reused interiors from another store. We also opened our Copenhagen pop-up with 91% of the fittings used from a previous store, from the mirrors to the cash desk. In 2024, we opened our New Jersey store with 45% of materials coming from our reuse programme.
In 2022, we launched our new interior concept, which we are rolling out across our store portfolio. The stores have been designed for disassembly to ensure we can easily maintain, repair and reuse as much of our interiors as possible. For example, our new concept showcases wardrobes made from fast-growing bamboo, which are shipped to our stores flat-packed and assembled without any adhesive, making them easier to take apart. We’ve also increased our use of recycled materials by introducing a new type of display shelving made from recycled-plastic packaging.
Here are a few examples of the materials we have used in our stores so far:
Recycled stone flooring
Our floor tile is made from 90% recycled by-product stone from our suppliers' own production. We have worked with our supplier to decrease the thickness of the tile to further reduce our use of resources.
As featured in COS Bangkok, Thailand, and Seoul, South Korea.
By-product fabric rug
These rugs are made using production excess yarn from Kasthall’s own manufacturing. They are handwoven or tufted and made to order to avoid excess material.
As featured in COS Athens, Greece.
Recycled ceramic waste tiles
Yi tiles turn ceramic waste into recycled tiles and bricks, which we use on our façades.
As featured in COS Shanghai and Hangzhou, China.
Recycled concrete plinths
We have worked with our supplier to turn our damaged concrete from stores into new plinths.
As featured in COS Seoul, South Korea, and Hangzhou, China.
Natural clay plaster
This rustic plaster finish is made in Italy using natural clays and minerals with no added pigment, so the colours are dictated by the region the soil was sourced from.
As featured in COS Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Recycled fabric boards by REALLY
Strong, sturdy and made from shredded recycled fabrics.
As featured in COS Antwerp, Belgium.