Coats celebrates 30th anniversary in Vietnam
- 20 Oct 2019
21 October 2019: Coats, the world’s leading industrial thread company, is celebrating 30 years of operating in Vietnam.
The anniversary is being marked by a gala celebration dinner in Ho Chi Minh City today attended by over 300 guests including customers, suppliers, employees and joint venture partners and also Chairman, Mike Clasper and Group Chief Executive, Rajiv Sharma, along with other members of the Coats Group plc Board.
The milestone recognises the highly successful joint venture between Coats and Phong Phu Corporation which was established in 1989. From a single small factory in Ho Chi Minh City 30 years ago, it has expanded operations to major cities across Vietnam and Cambodia and the recent expansion of the Hung Yen site has increased capacity further.
Rajiv Sharma, Group Chief Executive, Coats, said: ‘The business we have developed in Vietnam is a flagship operation for Coats. Its location within a major global apparel sourcing hub provides a strong geographic advantage. However, it is the close and collaborative relationship with our joint venture partner Phong Phu Corporation that has helped make it the success that it is today.’
Part of the 30th anniversary celebrations include the formal opening of a new rooftop solar power generation unit at the Ho Chi Minh site. The solar power generation unit is both one of the first and largest installed within the textile industry in Vietnam. The generation capacity will be 1 Megawatt.
Bill Watson, Managing Director, Coats Vietnam, said: ‘Integrating renewable sources of energy, like our new solar power generation unit, into our operations is important for our business in Vietnam and also supports the wider Coats priority to put sustainability at the heart of our company strategy. We will be looking at every opportunity to increase our sustainability further to see us through the next 30 years, and beyond.’
Coats Phong Phu was named as one of the ‘Best Companies to Work for in Asia 2018’ by HR Asia magazine. It also has an extensive community engagement programme to achieve its objective of creating long-term, real benefits for the communities surrounding it, as well as the environment. It supports the Ta Oi people in the mountainous region of A Luoi in central Vietnam by supplying them with excess threads to help sustain ancient weaving traditions. The woven textiles are sold to designers of ethical products which supports further economic development. Other projects include renovating local primary schools, providing computers and books to students and installing clean water supply systems for citizens in Ninh Thuan, a province in south east Vietnam.
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For more information contact:
Kristina Blissett, Head of Group Communications
kristina.blissett@coats.com
T +44 (0)208 210 5084, M +44 (0)7714 539887
Notes to Editors
About Coats
Coats is the world’s leading industrial thread company. At home in some 50 countries, Coats has a workforce of 18,000 people across six continents. Revenues in 2018 were US$1.4bn.
Coats’ pioneering history and innovative culture ensure the company leads the way around the world. It provides complementary and value added products, services and software solutions to the apparel and footwear industries. It applies innovative techniques to develop high technology Performance Materials threads, yarns and fabrics in areas such as automotive, composites, fibre optics and oil and gas.
Headquartered in the UK, Coats is a FTSE 250 company and a constituent of the FTSE4Good UK Index. It is also the Official Thread Supplier to the Royal Shakespeare Company.
- Each year we make enough thread to go into 8 billion pairs of jeans – that is one for every person on the planet
- Every month Coats produces enough thread to stretch all the way to the sun
- More than 450 million pairs of shoes are made every year using Coats’ thread
- More than 100 million car airbags are made using Coats’ Performance Materials thread every year
- In 1879 Thomas Edison used Coats’ thread in his experiments to invent the light bulb
- Our flame retardant Performance Materials threads can withstand temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees Celsius
To find out more about Coats visit www.coats.com
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