Coats Group

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. 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. and, when he retired in 1830, his sons, James & Peter, took up the business under the name of J. & P. Coats. In 1890 Coats listed on the London Stock Exchange, with capital of £5.7 million. == 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. This move towards local production in the United States was primarily driven by high tariffs on imported goods, including thread. The Clark family had manufacturing sites in Newark, New Jersey, U.S. as the Clark Thread Co. since 1864. == Mergers and consolidation ==

In 1952, J. & P. Coats and the Clark Thread Co. merged to become '''Coats & Clark's. In 1961, a merger with Patons and Baldwins created Coats Patons'''. In 1986, a merger with Vantona Viyella created Coats Viyella. In 2003 Guinness Peat took Coats private and in 2015 the business returned to the market as Coats Group. 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. The company acquired the footwear components business, Texon, in July 2022, and the footwear reinforcement components business, Rhenoflex, in August 2022. == See also ==