Coats invests in revolutionary sustainable digital thread dyeing technology
- 04 Dec 2018
Coats, the world’s leading industrial thread manufacturer, has become a strategic investor in Twine Solutions, an Israeli based technology start-up which has developed a revolutionary digital thread dyeing system.
Coats is investing $5m for a 9.5% share in the company and a seat on the Board.
Twine has created the world’s first standalone digital thread dyeing system which applies the features of small scale digital printing to the traditional dyeing process. The plug and play machine dyes thread using digital printing technology and can produce any length and colour, whenever or wherever they are needed. The technology is based on waterless dyeing and will feature inbuilt colour software integrated with Coats ColourStitch.
Rajiv Sharma, Group Chief Executive, said: ‘This is an exciting and innovative strategic move. We are investing in future technology which will improve our industry and its sustainability by directly addressing the key needs of our customers: speed, innovation and sustainability. The disruptive technology has the potential to revolutionise the thread industry and Coats will work closely with Twine to commercialise this opportunity.’
Coats and Twine will now work together on an exclusive commercial partnership to market the technology which will be launched mid 2019.
Alon Moshe, CEO, Twine said; ‘We are bringing high tech to a low tech industry by providing a unique solution to the most basic problem for one of the largest and oldest industries. To have the world’s leading industrial thread manufacturer as a backer brings immeasurable strength and opportunity to our offer.’
Twine Solutions was founded in 2015 in Israel by brothers Alon and Erez Moshe who have significant digital printing expertise. It currently has 40 full time employees and is based in Petah Tikva, outside Tel Aviv. Israel is the hub of digital print innovation globally.
The seat on the Twine Board will be taken by Michael Schofer, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Coats.
A key part of Coats’ strategy for development and growth is to collaborate with companies with unique capabilities that can leverage off the existing Coats network. The strategic investment in Twine follows three highly successful acquisitions: Patrick Yarn Mill, a manufacturer of high performance engineered yarns, based in North Carolina, US; Gotex, a Spanish company which designs and manufactures high-tech industrial yarns and tapes used in the telecommunications, energy and oil and gas sectors; and FRS, a UK based company which provides software solutions and expertise to improve operational efficiency and speed to market in apparel and footwear.
ENDS
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 manufacturer and a major player in the Americas textile crafts market. At home in some 50 countries, Coats employs 19,000 people across six continents. Revenues in 2017 were US$1.5bn.
Coats’ pioneering history and innovative culture ensure the company leads the way around the world: providing complementary and value added products and services to the apparel and footwear industries; applying innovative techniques to develop high technology Performance Materials threads and yarns in areas such as automotive, composites and fibre optics; and extending the crafts offer into new markets and online.
Headquartered in the UK, Coats is a FTSE 250 listed company on the London Stock Exchange. It is the Official Thread Supplier to the Royal Shakespeare Company.
- Each year we make enough thread to go into 8 billion pairs of jeans - that’s 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 Red Heart knitting and crochet yarn brand has been named ‘America’s Most Recommended’ by the Women’s Choice Award for three years running
- 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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About Twine
Twine Solutions was founded in 2015 in Israel, with seasoned multidiscipline professionals emerging from the digital printing and textile industry.
Twine is an award-winning technology start-up developing a proprietary and revolutionary digital thread dyeing system, and a digital dye to match mobile application.
Twine’s system continuously dyes a single raw or off-the-shelf (white) thread to any requested length and in any colour, with a choice of millions of colours, shades, as well as colour gradients.
Twine’s DST™ (Digital Selective Treatment) disruptive technology eliminates the need for coloured thread stock, dramatically reduces logistics, dead stock and other waste costs as well as dramatically reducing time to market.
The single thread, single needle, multi-colour method will free creativity and design limitations, while improving production efficiencies, margins, overall profitability, all that in a sustainable, eco-friendly process.
For more information on Twine visit: http://twine-s.com