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Improving the fabric of life Coats

IMPROVING THE FABRIC OF LIFE

With over 240 years as a pioneer in thread technology, Coats has responded to the global pandemic with a range of innovative textile solutions

In August 2020, Coats, the world’s leading industrial thread company, formed a partnership with HeiQ, a Swiss technology company, to incorporate HeiQ Viroblock technology into its engineered yarns and sewing threads. HeiQ Viroblock is among the first textile technologies in the world to be proven effective in laboratory testing against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The Coats Innovation Hub in North Carolina, US, is adapting HeiQ Viroblock technology to create a new range of threads and engineered yarns suitable for applications across a wide range of end-use products. Non-toxic and hypoallergenic, HeiQ Viroblock merges microsilver technology to attract virus particles which then combine with vesicle technology to break down the viral membrane within seconds. The microsilver technology uses recycled silver to enhance its sustainable offering, while the vesicle technology is bio-based.

Ronan Cox, President, Performance Materials, Coats, said: “The combination of HeiQ Viroblock technology with our specialist expertise in threads and yarns creates a unique and powerful textile

solution for the challenges we see today. The innovation infrastructure we have built at Coats continues to deliver exciting industry changing concepts that have real large-scale commercial potential.”

Two centuries of innovation

Coats is the world’s leading industrial thread manufacturer. Headquartered in the UK it employs 17,000 employees in over 50 countries around the world. For over two centuries, since the company’s foundation in the Scottish town of Paisley in 1775, it has developed a global footprint that gives it unrivalled access to markets, garment manufacturers and brand owners across the world.

As a pioneer in the thread industry, Coats continues to lead in the creation of advanced products and services. It partners with customers across multiple industries to understand and meet the challenges they face by delivering innovative solutions.

From conventional apparel like trousers and blouses to highly demanding, safety-critical end uses like automotive airbags and surgical sutures, Coats offers specially engineered industrial threads and yarns that optimise its customers’ sewing performance and enhance product quality.

Under its Opti brand, Coats also offers a wide variety of zip fasteners for manufacturers of clothing, footwear, accessories, outdoor gear and many other sectors. The Opti range is backed by unrivalled zip manufacturing technology, designed to give Coats customers a product they can trust every time.

Coats global trims offer is a range of high-quality interlinings, reflective tapes, hook and loop fasteners and mattress tapes developed in cooperation with leading suppliers and textile manufacturers. They can be used in a multitude of apparel, footwear and speciality applications.

Coats prides itself on its innovation which has become a key focus following the development of its three Innovation Hubs in China, Turkey and the US. These centres provide the opportunity for the company’s technical experts to work alongside industry partners and customers in real time on dedicated machinery to develop ground-breaking solutions for all the industries that Coats supplies.

Eco-friendly threads

To ensure growth, now and in the future, Coats understands the importance of using resources efficiently and exploring innovative solutions to protect the environment. This includes using more sustainable raw materials and reducing waste.

Coats EcoVerde is the first globally available 100 per cent recycled line of premium corespun and textured sewing threads, delivering

the same proven level of performance as the industry’s leading nonrecycled threads. EcoVerde threads help complete the loop for garments and accessories that already use recycled polyester fabrics or other eco-friendly fabrics or materials.

Waste plastic, such as used plastic (PET) bottles, is collected from various industrial and post-consumer sources. These are collected, sorted, cleaned, ground to flakes and then melted down and extruded into the fibre and filaments from which EcoVerde sewing threads are made. Because it consists entirely of recycled plastic fibres, Coats EcoVerde has a significantly lower carbon footprint than virgin fibres.

Advanced yarn for telecom cables

This year Coats launched Gotex StremX, the first new product of its kind for the telecom cable industry in 20 years. For use as a strength member in fibre optic cables, it is the critical component that preserves the integrity and flexibility of cables in order to protect the wires and fibres they are carrying.

To date telecom cables have traditionally been produced using glass or para-aramid fibres as the central strength members but the Innovation team at Coats has adapted a specific composition of a material substrate used predominantly in the aerospace and wind energy markets. The new product is a premium quality yarn with a unique coating that enhances both the static and dynamic properties of the strength member. It provides a cost-effective alternative to aramid strength members and exceptional mechanical properties with excellent temperature and corrosion resistance.

Coats has developed two variations of Gotex StremX to meet specific needs in telecommunication cable designs. Both are available in a wide range of sizes and with optional water blocking coatings. Gotex StremX HM is a super-strong, heat resistant yarn that improves cable tensile modulus by around 15 per cent and tensile strength by 15 per cent when compared to traditional fibre glass strength members. Gotex StremX UHM is a premium product that can achieve even higher tensile strength up to 35 per cent and modulus of up to 25 per cent in comparison to standard fibre glass strength members.

Ronan Cox says: ‘Our unique combination of innovation and deep market insights has enabled us to develop a new high performance strength member. Gotex StremX is a cost-effective solution for our customers and will prove to be an industry disrupter.’ n

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