Coats UK Crafts appoints new Managing Director
- 07 Oct 2015
Coats Group plc, the world’s leading industrial thread and consumer textile crafts business, has appointed Anna Mitchell as Managing Director of its UK Crafts business. Anna has been with Coats since 2012 and was previously Group Director of Communications, which also included overseeing investor relations.
Anna will be responsible for ensuring the profitable and successful operation of the UK Crafts business through developing and implementing its business strategy and activities, including financial and commercial metrics, customer and supplier relations, sales, marketing and distribution. The Coats Crafts business has undergone change recently with the sale of the EMEA Crafts business to the Aurelius Group. The deal, which was announced in February and completed in July, excluded the UK Crafts business which remains part of Coats, as does the Americas Crafts business.
Michael Schofer, CEO Crafts, Coats plc, said: ‘The UK is an important sales and distribution market for some of the best known textile craft brands and we have strong relationships with large retail chains, online players, independent retailers and some exceptional designers. Anna will be a great asset to our business as we build and develop it further in this key market.’
Profile
Anna, who will continue to lead the Diversity and Inclusion initiative at Coats, has a background in business and financial management, brand, marketing, customer service and on and offline communications. Prior to joining Coats in 2012, she spent over 11 years as Head of Global Communications at the international law firm, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. She has also previously worked at law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants and in consultancy.
Anna has a Bachelor of Arts degree in organisational communications and marketing as well as a Master of Arts, Communication from Charles Sturt University (Australia). She also has an Associateship Diploma, Finance from the Institute of Financial Services and a Graduate Certificate in Management and Business Administration from Mt Eliza Business School. She won International PR Professional of the Year at the 2008 Legal Marketing Awards.
Anna is a company appointed Director on the Coats Pension Plan Trustee Board, and is based at the Coats UK Crafts head office in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire.
ENDS
For more information and to request a photo contact:
Kristina Blissett, Head of Communications, kristina.blissett@coats.com
T +44 (0)20 8210 5084 M +44 (0)7714 539887
Notes to Editors
About Coats
With a rich heritage dating back to the 1750s, Coats is the world's leading industrial thread and consumer textile crafts business, at home in more than 70 countries, employing over 20,000 people across six continents. Revenues in 2014 were US$1.7bn.
Our well-known brands and strong relationships with customers and consumers mean our products and services meet current and future needs. Our company-wide understanding of our business partners and consumers, coupled with the deep expertise of our people, builds trust and certainty.
Coats’ pioneering history and innovative culture ensure the company continues leading the way around the world: providing complementary and value added products and services to the apparel and footwear industries; extending the crafts offer into new markets and online; and applying innovative techniques to develop products in new areas such as tracer threads, aramids and fibre optics.
- One in five garments on the planet is held together using Coats’ thread
- More than 100 million car airbags are made using Coats’ thread every year
- Coats produces enough yarn to knit 70 million scarves a year
- Every three hours Coats makes enough thread to go to the moon and back
- More than 450 million pairs of shoes are made every year using Coats’ thread
- In 1879 Thomas Edison used Coats’ thread in his experiments to invent the light bulb
- Every week over one billion teabags are brewed using Coats’ thread
- Coats produces enough thread to reach around the Equator every ten minutes
- Thousands of surgical operations take place every day using Coats’ thread
- Coats is the second largest and fastest growing global zip manufacturer