Coats provides the thread, structural components and yarns behind apparel, footwear and accessories — a materials business stitched into products far beyond its own name.
The roots run to Paisley, Scotland, where in 1802 James Coats set up his own weaving operation; in 1826 he opened a cotton mill at Ferguslie, and when he retired in 1830 his sons James and Peter took it up as J. & P. Coats. The firm listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1890 and expanded internationally, notably absorbing the Conant Thread Company of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in 1893.
A century of mergers shaped the modern group — Coats & Clark's in 1952, Coats Patons in 1961, Coats Viyella in 1986 — before it returned to the market as Coats Group in 2015. Listed on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 250, the company reported revenues of $1.4bn in 2023 and has lately expanded into footwear components with Texon and Rhenoflex.
