We are very proud of our heritage at Coats which spans four centuries and five continents.
Since the 1700’s, in tandem with the consistently changing environment and the continued development, revolution and innovation of human history, Coats has continued to develop and implement solutions for our global customer base.
Please enjoy our potted history
| 1900 |
Coats established trading company in Buenos Aires, Argentina |
|---|---|
| 1901 |
Thread mill established in Bratislava ( then in Hungary and later nationalised in 1948 ) |
| 1903 |
J&P Coats started manufacture in Montreal, Canada Merger between Sociedad Anonima Sucesora de Fabra i Portabella ( a Spanish thread manufacturer ) and J&P Coats to form Compania Anonima Hilaturas de Fabra y Coats |
| 1904 |
Coats acquired Italian thread manufacturer Fabbriche Italianne Filati Cicirini and formed Cucirini Cantoni Coats s.a. Thread spinning mill established in Bratislava ( later to be part of Czechoslovakia ) |
| 1907 |
Coats established trading operations in Sao Paulo, Brazil |
| 1908 |
Manufacturing commenced in Portugal under the Coats and Clark banner |
| 1911 |
Coats Fabra became first Spanish company to offer paid holidays to its workers. |
| 1912 |
J&P Coats the world’s third largest company by market capitalisation ( $300.8 million ) after US Steel and Standard Oil |
| 1917 |
Russian businesses confiscated |
| 1920 |
Cotton spinning mill established in Shanghai, China Patons and Baldwin formed |
| 1924 |
Thread factory established in Sibiu, Romania ( later nationalised in 1948 ) |
| 1931 |
Patons and Baldwin built knitting yarn mill in Toronto, Canada |
| 1937 |
Cotton plantation Algodoeira Sao Miguel acquired in Angicos, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil Manufacturing of thread started in Sao Paulo , Brazil Spinning mill acquired in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| 1939 |
Thread manufacturing commenced in Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| 1939 - 1945 |
Coats operations in Czechoslovakia, Poland, Latvia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, East Germany and China nationalised or confiscated |
| 1940 |
Thread manufacturing commences in South Africa |
| 1947 |
Patons and Baldwin started production in Darlington, UK |
| 1948 |
Thread factory set up in Karachi, Pakistan |
| 1951 |
New Spinning and Twisting factory inaugurated in Vila Ema, Sao Paulo, Brazil J&P Coats established thread factory in Koratti, India |
| 1952 |
Production of metallic zips commenced in Sao Paulo, Brazil J&P Coats ( The Spool Cotton Company ) and The Clark Thread Co merged in the USA to form Coats and Clark Inc. |
| 1953 |
Manufacturing commenced in Istanbul, Turkey |
| 1957 |
Thread manufacturing started in Lima, Peru |
| 1958 |
Manufacturing started in Pereira, Colombia Hilos Cadena SA incorporated in Guayaquil, Equador |
| 1961 |
Coats merged with Patons and Baldwins, new company named Coats Paton |
| 1963 |
J&P Coats Manila Bay formed in the Philippines |
| 1964 |
Production began in San Joaquim, Venezuela |
| 1965 |
Coats Patons acquired Wm Briggs Coats Patons acquired Pasolds |
| 1967 |
Coats Patons acquired Dynacast, a precision engineering company |
| 1968 |
New factory built in Bursa, Turkey |
| 1970 |
Coats Patons acquired Lamprom, an Italian zip maker |
| 1973 |
Coats Patons acquired Needle Industries |
| 1977 |
Joint venture in Indonesia established |
| 1978 |
Darlington factory closed |
| 1979 |
Spinning mill Fiacao Borborema acquired in Natal, Brazil to produce fine quality cotton yarns Second Indian thread factory opened in Tuticorin |
| 1980 |
Third thread factory in India established in Ambassamudram |
| 1983 |
Coats acquired Schachenmayr, a German knitting yarn producer |
| 1986 |
Merger with Vantona Viyella, company name changed to Coats Viyella |
| 1987 |
Spinning mill established in Guangzhou, China |
| 1988 |
Spinning mill established in Tianjin, China Manufacturing commenced in Mauritius |
| 1989 |
Coats Phong Phu established in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Coats entered Morocco through acquisition of Union Cotonniere du Maroc Coats acquired global number two zip maker, Opti - Lightning |
| 1990 |
Coats returned to Hungary and re-established manufacturing in Ujpest |
| 1991 |
Coats Viyella acquired Tootal Thread, a global thread company and operations in Europe, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, France, Canada, USA, and Finland Zip manufacturing started in Turkey Fourth Indian thread plant commenced production in Faridabad |
| 1992 |
Thread dyeing and finishing mill set up in Guangzhou, China |
| 1993 |
Coats acquired shareholding in Hilos Timon, a well respected thread manufacturer in Mexico City Coats second Vietnamese factory opened in Hanoi Fifth Indian factory opened in Serampore Koratti, India thread factory closed |
| 1994 |
Coats acquired Rowan yarns, an unscale knitting yarn brand New zip factory built in Tallinn, Estonia Lithuania sales office opened New thread factory inaugurated in Panoli, India |
| 1995 |
Sales office opened in Latvia Thread manufacturing set up in Poland |
| 1996 |
Coats Brazil acquired Lipasa, the thread manufacturing division of the Microlite Group New spinning mill inaugurated in Extremoz, Brazil Closure of Spinning mill in Vila Ema, Sao Paulo, Brazil Coats Egypt started manufacturing operationsv |
| 1997 |
Coats Hungary acquired thread factory in Nagyatad Zip slider manufacturing plant inaugurated in Lodz, Poland |
| 1998 |
Coats Tunisia formed Thread dyeing and finishing mill set up in Shanghai, China |
| 1999 |
Knitting yarn manufacture in Alloa closed Knitting yarn brand Patons sold to Spinrite in the USA and Canada Coats acquired leading Speciality thread manufacturer, Barbour Thread from Hicking Pentecost |
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