Coats Group

Coats Group plc is a British multinational company. The company provides products, including apparel, accessory and footwear threads, structural components for footwear and accessories, fabrics, yarns, and software applications.

Coats is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index and FTSE4Good Index. Revenues in 2023 were $1.4bn.

Founding

Ferguslie Thread Mills

Paisley, Scotland became a hub for the textile industry in the United Kingdom. In 1755 James and Patrick Clark began a loom equipment and silk thread business.<ref name="history">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1806, Patrick Clark invented a way of twisting strands of cotton together to substitute for silk that was unavailable due to the French blockade of Great Britain. He opened the first plant for manufacturing the cotton thread in 1812.<ref name="history"/>

1887 chromolithograph advertisement for J & P. Coats Best Six Cord thread by Donaldson Brothers

In 1802 James Coats set up his own weaving in Paisley. In 1826 he opened a cotton mill at Ferguslie to produce his own thread<ref name="guarch">Template:Cite web</ref> and, when he retired in 1830, his sons, James & Peter, took up the business under the name of J. & P. Coats.<ref name="guarch"/>

In 1890 Coats listed on the London Stock Exchange,<ref name="guarch" /> with capital of £5.7 million.<ref name="guarch" />

Implantation in the United States

The firm expanded internationally, particularly to the United States. In 1869, J. & P. Coats signed a contract with the Conant Thread Company in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, which entitled them to use of the Conant company's manufacturing facilities.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> This move towards local production in the United States was primarily driven by high tariffs on imported goods, including thread.<ref name=":0" />

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J & P. Coats Best Six Cord 50, ca. 1870-1900; from the 19th Century American Trade Cards collection of the Boston Public Library

In 1893, J. & P. Coats absorbed the Conant Thread Company and assumed direct control over the Pawtucket plant, under the management of James Coats (1834–1913) and Alfred M. Coats (1869–1942).<ref name=":0" /> In 1896 J. and P. Coats acquired controlling interests in the firms of Clark and Co, Jonas Brook and Brothers, and James Chadwick and Brother.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Clark family had manufacturing sites in Newark, New Jersey, U.S. as the Clark Thread Co. since 1864.<ref name="history" />

J & P Coats moved their base of operations to Delaware in 1951 and officially closed the plant in Pawtucket in November 1964.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Mergers and consolidation

In 1952, J. & P. Coats and the Clark Thread Co. merged to become Coats & Clark's.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1961, a merger with Patons and Baldwins created Coats Patons.<ref name="guarch" /> By the mid-1960s, Coats Patons decided to invest in the Philippines by initiating a joint venture with Tan Heng Chai of the Marikina-based Manila Bay Spinning Mills, Inc. called J. & P. Coats Manila Bay, Inc.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1986, a merger with Vantona Viyella created Coats Viyella.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2003 Guinness Peat took Coats private and in 2015 the business returned to the market as Coats Group.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Coats was fined €110 million by the European Commission in 2007 for participation in cartels with Prym, YKK, and other companies to fix and manipulate the prices of zips and other fasteners, and of the machinery to make them. One of the cartels ran for twenty-one years. An appeal in 2012 to the General Court of the European Union was dismissed, and the fine upheld.<ref name="aoife">Aoife White (27 June 2012). Coats and YKK Lose EU Court Challenges Over Antitrust Fines. Bloomberg. Accessed March 2015.</ref><ref>Judgment of the General Court (Third Chamber) of 27 June 2012. Coats Holdings Ltd v European Commission. Competition – Agreements, decisions and concerted practices – Markets for zip fasteners and ‘other fasteners’ – Decision finding an infringement of Article 81 EC – Coordinated price increases, fixing of minimum prices, customer-sharing, market-sharing and exchange of other commercial information – Evidence – Single and continuous infringement – Limitation period – Rights of the defence – Fines – Guidelines. Case T-439/07. Accessed March 2015.</ref>

The company acquired the footwear components business, Texon, in July 2022,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the footwear reinforcement components business, Rhenoflex, in August 2022.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

See also

• Thomas Coats (1809–1883)
• Sir Peter Coats of Auchendrane (1808–1890)
• Sir James Coats, 1st Baronet (1834–1913)
• Sir Thomas Glen-Coats, 1st Baronet (1846–1922)
• Conant Thread-Coats & Clark Mill Complex District in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places
• Alfred M. Coats (1869–1942)

Further reading

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External links

• Template:Official website
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• Boston Public Library Thread Trade Cards Collection