Coats performance wear
Our products are part of the fabric of everyday life: from clothing, accessories and furniture to fibre optics and healthcare items.
Our Industrial business is the leading producer of industrial thread for the apparel and footwear industry, we have a leading and expanding position in the performance materials market, and our Crafts business is the largest player in the Americas textile crafts market. Our comprehensive range of products are designed to deliver the desired strength and performance characteristics that make Coats’ products the first choice for manufacturers of high quality textiles.
Back in 2006, we started a new stream of innovative products, developing threads and yarns for use in personal protective products for people working in extreme environments including firefighting, oil and gas, power generation and military combat.
Coats Performance Wear: a growing business for Coats
We started to manufacture and sell these new innovative products in 2006, initially with a focus on sewing threads. In 2011, as our knowledge of the market grew, we moved into innovative yarns, introducing them first in the US. We then started to sell and manufacture these products in Europe and Asia, in 2013 and 2017 respectively.
Our Performance Wear range is used to manufacture a wide variety of garments ranging from protective clothing and workwear to uniforms and gloves. These garments are expected to perform in differing, demanding environmental conditions such as coveralls for various industries, oil and gas protective gear, military wear, and firefighter’s clothing (both station wear and turn out gear). These products are made to provide maximum protection when working under extreme conditions.
The sales of these new performance wear products have grown steadily since 2006, approaching 5% of Coats total revenue in 2017. While used for different purposes in the end product the yarns and thread products are complementary and both continue to develop. We are expecting our sales figures by the end of 2020 to be double those in 2017.
Coats Performance Wear: both enduring and comfortable products
As a key component supplier in the supply chain for personal protective wear, we need to ensure that our products have the durability to withstand the daily hostile environment while still providing comfort for the wearer.
New, innovative materials, such as multi-fibre blends, have revolutionised the performance wear industry. To achieve these new mixtures, we have developed the ability to blend up to five different fibres with very precise proportions and even blending. To speed the development process we have developed the capability to run simulations of the properties of yarns and hence garments without the need to produce physical samples. This is a digital tool that allows us to enter all the properties of multiple fibres and run various models. These models show us the different properties possible for a mixture of fibres. It is these innovative technologies that allow us to continuously grow and improve our performance wear business and ensure that our products are key to protecting people around the world.
