Coats

Understanding Coats
Coats at a glance
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Coats Colour Express
Registered users can place Sample Orders. Contact the local Coats office for registration.
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ShopCoats
Registered users can place Bulk Orders. Contact the local Coats office for registration.
Coats is the world’s leading industrial thread company. We are headquartered in the UK and a FTSE 250 constituent with global operations generating revenues of $1.5bn in 2021.
What we do
We deliver innovative, value-adding and premium product and service solutions for our c.40,000 global customers to meet specified design requirements. Our products are a critical component in global industries like Apparel and Footwear (A&F) and Performance Materials (PM) including products for the Personal Protection industry, Composites and Performance Threads for multiple but focussed end-use sectors.
Sustainability is at the core of our business values, and we continuously strive to support our customers in achieving their sustainability goals. Whilst we continued to see regional Covid outbreaks during 2021 we were able to use our flexible business model and supply chains to maintain robust financial performance.
Headquartered in the UK and quoted on the London Stock Exchange, we have a global sales presence and digital platforms that enable us to serve customers wherever they are located.
Our unrivalled global reach and footprint serve as one of our competitive advantages.
2021 revenue by division 2021 revenue by region

$1.5bn Group revenues |
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12.8% Operating margins |
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0.7X Leverage |
Where we operate
Headquartered in the UK and quoted on the London Stock Exchange, we have a global sales presence and digital platforms to enable us to serve customers wherever they are located. Our unrivalled global reach and footprint serve as one of our competitive advantages.
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6 Operating in six continents |
c.40,000 Customers globally |
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>250 Years of textiles experience |
How we operate: Our Sustainability Strategy
Our five sustainability pillars are:
- Water
- Energy
- Effluent
- Social
- Materials
During 2021 we added ambitious new targets to our Sustainability strategy, which focus on transitioning to sustainable materials, net-zero emissions and promoting circularity in all we do. These new goals map our high-level sustainability journey and run in tandem with the strategy launched in 2019 that focussed on the key issues facing our business, which continue to be our high-priority targets for delivery in 2022 and beyond.
Apparel & Footwear
2021 revenue: $1,094m
2021 operating profit:
$164m (15.0% margin)
We are the trusted value-adding partner, providing critical supply chain components and services to the $1.4tn global apparel and $350bn footwear industries. Our portfolio of world-class products and services exist to serve the needs and requirements of our customers and brand owners.
Main customer markets |
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We ultimately supply products and services to global brands across many markets such as mid-market, premium lifestyle, value/mass, fast fashion, luxury/affordable luxury, footwear, and apparel tailoring. | |
30,000 | 4,000 |
Apparel and footwear manufacturers | Retailers and brands |
Product type | End uses | Key Coats brands |
Apparel & Footwear and accessories threads (c.85% of sales) |
Sport/athleisure, denim, ladieswear, menswear, children’s wear, leather wear, workwear, footwear, and intimates and underwear | Epic, Dual Duty, Seamsoft, Nylbond, Gral, Gramax, Astra, Sylko, CoatsKnit, EcoVerde, Eloflex and Drybond |
Zips, trims and crafting (c.14% of sales) |
Zips, interlinings, reflective tapes, and crafting products (Latin America) | Opti, Signal and Connect |
Software solutions (c.1% of sales) |
Enabling supply chain productivity gains, increasing speed of supply and facilitating compliance | Coats Digital – including FastReactPlan, VisionPLM, GSDCost, Intellocut and Intellobuy |
Performance Materials
2021 revenue: $409m
2021 operating profit:
$29m (7.1% margins)
We are experts in the design and supply of a diverse range of technical products that serve a variety of strategic end-use markets. Derived from our longstanding global marketleading A&F thread expertise, which has been built up over 250 years, we are able to innovate to provide highly engineered solutions to meet our customer needs by incorporating specific design features into various thread and yarn-based products.
Main customer markets |
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We develop high-technology Performance Materials including products for the Personal Protection industry, Composites and Performance Threads for multiple but focussed end-use sectors. | |
8,500 | |
PM customers | |
End use sector | End uses | Key Coats brands |
Personal Protection (c.40% of sales) |
Combining comfort, safety and protection – fire retardant and cut resistant threads and yarns | Firefly, Flamepro and Armoren |
Composites (c.25% of PM sales) |
Telecoms and Energy, Automotive, Footwear | Gotex, Synergex, Lattice, Ultrabloc, Aptan XTRU, Gral Binder and Protos Ripcord |
Performance Threads (c.35% of sales) |
High-performance threads and yarns for the Automotive and Household & Recreation industries as well as other technical industrial applications such as feminine hygiene | Gral, Helios, Gral Quilt, Protos Fil, Epic, Gramax, Admiral and Neophil |