{{Short description|British multinational sewing supply company}} {{Infobox company | name = Coats Group plc | logo = Coats logo.svg | logo_size = 150px | type = Public limited company | traded_as = {{ubl|{{lse|COA}}|FTSE 250 component}} | slogan = | foundation = {{start date and age|1755}} | location = London, England, UK | key_people = David Gosnell<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/coats-group-appoint-david-gosnell-as-new-chairman/412940626|title=Coats Group appoint David Gosnell as new Chairman|date=24 November 2020 |publisher=Directors Talk|access-date=14 June 2021}}</ref> Chairman<br>David Paja, CEO<br>Jackie Callaway, CFO | industry = Consumer and intermediate goods | revenue = {{increase}} US$1,464.9 million (2025)<ref name=results>{{cite web |url=https://cdn.coats.com/wp-content/uploads/Coats-Group-plc-2025-Full-Year-Results-Announcement.pdf|title=Annual Results 2025|publisher=Coats |access-date=5 March 2026}}</ref> | operating_income = {{increase}} US$289.8 million (2025)<ref name=results/> | net_income = {{increase}} US$121.2 million (2025)<ref name=results/> | num_employees = | products = Textile related | parent = | homepage = {{URL|https://www.coats.com}} }}
'''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== thumb|left|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">{{cite web|url=http://www.coats.com/index.asp?pageid=20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120628053334/http://www.coats.com/index.asp?pageid=20|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 June 2012|title=History|publisher=Coats|access-date=17 March 2019}}</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"/> [[File:J & P. Coats Best Six Cord, 200 yds, 50. White, black and colors for hand & machine. (front) - 9547344167.jpg|thumb|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">{{cite web|title= Records of Coats Viyella plc, thread manufacturers, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland|url= http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/news/02120302.html|access-date= 2009-02-03|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://archive.today/20120719062445/http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/news/02120302.html|archive-date= 2012-07-19}}</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">{{Cite journal |last= Kim |first=Dong-Woon |date=1998 |title=The British multinational enterprise in the United States before 1914: The case of J. & P. Coats |journal=Business History Review |volume=72 |issue=4 |pages=523–551|doi=10.2307/3116621 |jstor=3116621 }}</ref> This move towards local production in the United States was primarily driven by high tariffs on imported goods, including thread.<ref name=":0" />
thumb|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>{{cite web|title=Clark and Co (of Paisley)|publisher=Grace's Guide To British Industrial History, quoting "The Stock Exchange Year Book 1908"|url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Clark_and_Co_(of_Paisley)|access-date=16 September 2022}}</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>{{cite web|url=https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/RI-01-PA9|title=Coats and Clark (Conant Thread Mill Complex, Later J. and P Coats Ltd)|date=17 July 2018 |publisher=Society of Architectural Historians|access-date=13 April 2024}}</ref>
== Mergers and consolidation == In 1952, J. & P. Coats and the Clark Thread Co. merged to become '''Coats & Clark's'''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://roots.sg/learn/collections/listing/1154615|title=A spool of machine embroidery thread from Clark & Co's Anchor Mills in Paisley|publisher=Roots|access-date=17 March 2019}}</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>{{cite book|last=Kunio|first=Yoshihara|title=Philippine Industrialization: Foreign and Domestic Capital|date=1985|publisher=Ateneo de Manila University Press|location=Quezon City, Philippines|isbn=0-19-582620-5|page=78|quote=By the time J & P Coats decided to invest in the Philippines it was not possible}}</ref>
In 1986, a merger with Vantona Viyella created '''Coats Viyella'''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ipe.com/coats-pensions-chairman-dow-steps-down/www.ipe.com/coats-pensions-chairman-dow-steps-down/2093.fullarticle|title=Coats Pensions chairman Dow steps down|date=9 August 2005|publisher=IPE|access-date=17 March 2019}}</ref> In 2003 Guinness Peat took Coats private and in 2015 the business returned to the market as Coats Group.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/ron-brierley-resigns-from-coats/YK4RTRZIFXNZD6M4MTLH3NATTA/|title=Ron Brierley resigns from Coats|date=20 April 2015|publisher=New Zealand Herald}}</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). [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-27/coats-and-ykk-lose-eu-court-challenges-over-antitrust-fines.html Coats and YKK Lose EU Court Challenges Over Antitrust Fines]. Bloomberg. Accessed March 2015.</ref><ref>[http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:62007TJ0439:EN:NOT 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>{{cite news|url=https://us.fashionnetwork.com/news/Coats-acquires-texon-as-athleisure-footwear-market-booms,1421403.html|title=Coats acquires Texon as athleisure footwear market booms|date=6 July 2022|newspaper=Fashion Network|access-date=10 April 2023}}</ref> and the footwear reinforcement components business, Rhenoflex, in August 2022.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.just-style.com/news/coats-acquires-rhenoflex-to-strengthen-footwear-presence/|title=Coats acquires Rhenoflex to strengthen footwear presence|date=11 August 2022|newspaper=Just Style|access-date=10 April 2023}}</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)
==References== {{reflist|50em}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book|last=Coats|first=Brian|title=Seams Sewn Long Ago. The Story of Coats The Threadmakers|year=2013|publisher=CreateSpace|isbn=978-1490408262}} * {{cite book|last=Kim|first=Dong-Woon|title=From a Family Partnership to a Corporate Company: J. & P. Coats, Thread Manufacturers|publisher=Textile History|date= Autumn 1994| volume= 25 |pages= 185–225}} * {{cite book|last=Kim|first=Dong-Woon|title=The British multinational enterprise in the United States before 1914: The case of J. & P. Coats|publisher=Business History Review|date=Winter 1998|volume=72|pages= 523–52}} * {{cite book|last=Kim|first=Dong-Woon|title=J. & P. Coats in Tsarist Russia, 1889–1917|publisher=Business History Review|date=Winter 1995|volume=69|pages= 465–494}} * {{cite book|last=Kininmonth|first=Kirsten W.|title=The growth, development and management of J. & P. Coats Ltd, c.1890–1960: An analysis of strategy and structure|publisher=Business History|date= October 2006|volume=48|pages= 551–579}} * {{cite book|last=Knox, William W. |title=Hanging by a Thread: The Scottish Cotton Industry, c. 1850–1914|year=1995|publisher=Carnegie|isbn=978-1859360118}}
==External links== {{commons category|Coats Group}} * {{official website|https://www.coats.com}} * {{FadedPage|id=Coats and Clark, Inc.|name=Coats and Clark|author=yes}} * {{PM20|FID=co/054983|TEXT=Documents and clippings about|NAME=}} * Boston Public Library [https://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/albums/72157635146993044/ Thread Trade Cards] Collection
{{FTSE 250 Index constituents}} {{FT 30 constituents}} {{NZX 50 companies}} {{Knitting}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coats Plc}} Category:1755 establishments in England Category:1755 establishments in Scotland Category:British companies established in 1755 Category:Companies based in the London Borough of Hillingdon Category:Companies in the FTSE 250 Index Category:Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1755 Category:Manufacturing companies of Scotland Category:Privately held companies of the United Kingdom Category:Scottish brands Category:Textile manufacturers of Scotland