Coats, a leading industrial thread manufacturer and a major player in the Americas textile crafts market, is supporting plans for Paisley to build a legacy of its UK City of Culture 2021 bid. In 2017, Coats was one of 15 firms to financially pledge £20,000 towards the costs of its birthplace hosting the cultural title, should it have won.

This week, members of the Coats Group plc Board, including Chairman, Mike Clasper CBE, and Group Chief Executive, Rajiv Sharma, visited the town and confirmed that the pledge remains in place for projects promoting Paisley's ambitious bid legacy plans.

While in Paisley, they were given a tour of Paisley Museum and Coats Observatory, both built by the Coats family, and Paisley: The Secret Collection, the UK’s first high street museum store and home to many of the items the mill owners bequeathed to the town.

Investment

“Coats is extremely proud of its heritage, which is inextricably linked with Paisley,” said Rajiv Sharma, Group Chief Executive, Coats. “We are delighted to confirm that we remain committed to the financial pledge we made when we backed the Paisley 2021 bid last year.  The tremendous energy and focus that emerged during the bid process has created a legacy which we want to support.”

Paisley is pushing ahead with plans to deliver on the vision of the 2021 bid to transform the area’s future using its heritage and cultural assets. That includes a £100 million investment in town centre venues and infrastructure, including a £42 million project to make Paisley Museum into an international-class destination showcasing the town’s rich textile heritage and unique collections.

The Paisley 2021 legacy plan also includes ambitious plans to grow the area’s major events programme, invest in its independent cultural sector, develop as a hub of creative industry, and harness the power of culture to make people’s lives better across health and education services. The work will be underpinned by the new destination brand paisley.is, which aims to promote Renfrewshire as a great place to live, visit and invest, and help grow the local visitor economy.

Coats contribution

While the 19,000 employees of Coats are spread across six continents, the company retains a presence in Paisley, where its colour management technology team is overseeing the dyeing of products manufactured across the globe from its base in the historic Abbey Mills complex.

“We are delighted to have welcomed the Coats Board to the town and thank them for their contribution towards Paisley’s ongoing transformation,” commented Councillor Lisa-Marie Hughes, chair of Renfrewshire Leisure, which operates Paisley Museum.

“While the modern Coats company is very different from the one which started life in Paisley in the 19th century, the spirit of innovation and creative industry which saw it grow to be one of the biggest companies in the world is still at the core of what it does.”

“Just as Paisley made textiles, textiles made Paisley – many of the most striking parts of Paisley’s iconic skyline grew from the generosity of the Coats family, as did the globally-significant collections in our museums.”

www.coats.com