Coats opens fourth global sustainability hub in Madurai

MADURAI: The Indian arm of the UK-based Coats Group Plc, the world’s leading manufacturer in thread and structural components for apparel and footwear, opened a new sustainability hub here on Wednesday. This is the fourth such innovation hotspot after China, Turkey and the US.

India accounts for 10-12 per cent of the $1.6 billion global revenues, among top-five revenue contributors, and one-third of Coats’s global manufacturing capacity, said group chief executive Rajiv Sharma. “Tamil Nadu alone constitutes 60 per cent of this capacity,” said Sharma, adding that the availability of computer engineering talent and the possession of global capabilities in India is working in the company’s favour.

Unlike other mature markets, India, a consumption-driven market, is expected to contribute 16 to 18 per cent of the global revenues within five years. Exports will also grow, he added.

The new sustainability hub in Madurai will join the Shenzhen hub in China, which is being repurposed to accelerate the material transition to recycled and renewable materials. The two hubs will work together to innovate new generation materials (like wood pulp, spider cell, corn, bamboo shoots, banana skin) as sustainable sewing threads for apparel, footwear and performance materials.

From an oil-based extraction production process, Coats is taking the recycled or renewable materials use to increase its renewable energy consumption to 70 per cent from 20 per cent.

Sharma said Coats has achieved progress against ambitious targets in the areas of energy, materials, water, waste and people over the last four years. Coats has now announced new targets for 2026 across the same material areas to meet its 2030 commitments.

Coats has created a $10 million fund for scaling the development of green technologies and materials over next five years to accelerate its ambitious sustainability targets. It has taken 9 per cent stake in Twine, an Israeli start-up for going water-less and exploring vegan inks or dye-less possibilities, thereby making mass customisation possible, Sharma said.

Noting that Madurai is the spinning and twisting talent hotspot, he said Coats would produce 75 kg of samples every day at the hub by working alongside global suppliers. Coats has three different segments – exports (catering to leading global brands such as H&M, Gap and Nike); readymade garments (Reliance, Amazon, Myntra) and apparel tailoring (mom and pop stores).

Pegging the addressable market for apparel and footwear threads at $4.2 billion and structural performance materials at $1.8 billion, Sharma said Coats has a specialised product, EPIC, which is recycled polyester threads. Sales of these threads has risen to $128 mn last year from $2 mn in 2019. This year, it is expected to be $225 to $250 mn, while Coats eyes $400 mn next year. The exercise may lower profits in the short-term but Coats is keen to drive and lead the material transition, Sharma said.

Water, jeans, moon and threads!

The production of one kg of thread consumes 150 litres of water, it takes 700 litres of water to ‘manufacture’ a pair of jeans. The thread that Coats produces in just three hours can stretch to the moon and back. “We have been able to see 40 per cent water reduction as we continue to invest in technologies that don’t need any water at all,” Sharma pointed out.