Consolidated Statements of Income - USD ($) shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Oct. 31, 2015	Oct. 31, 2014	Oct. 31, 2013
Income Statement [Abstract]
Net sales	$ 1,797,060	$ 1,717,776	$ 1,587,725
Cost of sales	726,798	626,206	560,917
Gross profit	1,070,262	1,091,570	1,026,808
Selling, general and administrative expense	712,543	683,115	610,735
Research and development expense	69,589	66,259	58,827
Amortization of intangibles	51,459	35,710	30,239
Loss on divestiture of Aime	0	0	21,062
Operating income	236,671	306,486	305,945
Interest expense	18,103	7,965	9,168
Gain on insurance proceeds	0	0	14,084
Other expense (income), net	3,083	1,987	(1,410)
Income before income taxes	215,485	296,534	312,271
Provision for income taxes	10,341	24,705	15,365
Net income	205,144	271,829	296,906
Less: Income attributable to noncontrolling interests	1,621	1,973	755
Net income attributable to Cooper stockholders	$ 203,523	$ 269,856	$ 296,151
Earnings per share attributable to Cooper stockholders - basic	$ 4.20	$ 5.61	$ 6.09
Earnings per share attributable to Cooper stockholders - diluted	$ 4.14	$ 5.51	$ 5.96
Number of shares used to compute earnings per share attributable to Cooper stockholders:
Basic	48,452	48,061	48,615
Diluted	49,179	48,960	49,685