Revolutionising industrial thread technology The UK’s Coats Group is a global leader in the development and manufacture of industrial threads and yarns. The company has evolved over its 200-year history to become one of the most innovative and visionary of its kind. Philip Yorke reports on a group that continues to lead the field in product sustainability and digital technology.
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he Coats Group was founded in Paisley, Scotland, in 1775 by James and Patrick Clark. Its activities began with the production of loom equipment and silk thread at a small workshop. Today the company operates globally in more than 50 countries worldwide and in 2018 recorded revenues of almost USD 2 billion, generated by a workforce of around 20,000 people. Each year, the group makes enough thread to go into 8 billion pairs of jeans and every month produces enough to stretch all the way to the sun - a distance of over 92 million miles. In addition, more than 100 million airbags are made using Coats’ high-performance thread, as well as over 450 million pairs of shoes.
118 Industry Europe
Harnessing talent and technology For over 200 years, Coats’ has worked to harness the talent and technology that exists in the textile industry in order to enhance people’s lives. This embraces everything from sewing thread to medical sutures and fibre optic cables, and from high performance threads used in planes, automobiles and safety equipment to the yarns, that have inspired designers around the world. The Coats Group are also restless pioneers forever seeking to create new materials and to partner with customers to help them realise their goals. The company’s vision is to become the world’s leading and most diverse industrial textiles Group, delivering innovation, digital solutions
