Coats Corrente opens up new business areas
Valor Econômico
The Sales and Marketing Officer of Coats Corrente, Antônio Carlos Longuini, can't find a meeting room free for the interview to Valor. "But there is a good reason for that: Some rooms have been relocated to receive new business areas", says the Executive who is in the company for 31 years. For more than 100 years, the British manufacturer of sewing lines and zippers is located at the same space in the neighborhood of Ipiranga, in the South side of São Paulo, but the recent times have been particularly agitated.
Pressured by the competition from imported Chinese textiles - resulting in the reduction of the orders placed by local clothing companies -, the former Linhas Currente tries to reinvent itself. Over the past three years, it invested US$ 150 million in technology, marketing and production. Today, you can find products of Coats Corrente in items that go far beyond sewing threads or yarns for knitting a scarf: From tampons and sutures used by surgeons, going through fireman uniforms and bullet-proof vests, to even lines that go over fiber cables, its newest offensive.
"The segment of specialties, which comprises the new uses of the line, still represents little (10%) in the revenue of the industrial division, but it is in that segment that is the biggest growth potential of the company", says Longuini, who does not disclose the earnings. Among the specialties are also the lines used in footwear, furniture, upholstered items (including car seats), tea bags and loose-leaf books. The great bet rests on the special lines for high temperatures, used in uniforms and accessories not only for firemen, but for professionals working in electrical networks and in the steel and oil industries.
While seeking diversification in products of higher added value, Coats Corrente seeks to adopt a new attitude towards the clothing companies. Among them, brands like Ellus, M. Officer, Forum and the manufacturers Hering, Marisol and Malwee. The company renders technical consulting to its clients, to increase productivity in at least 5%, and it is present since the development of the product, in choosing the colors and materials suitable for each type of fabric. To make part of fashion world, it is even worth going to classroom. The company has a partnership with some of the largest fashion colleges of the country. A Coats classroom, containing much of the company's portfolio, was installed in Santa Marcelina, in FAAP (Armando Alvares Penteado Foundation) and in the unit of Senac (National Service for Commercial Training), in São Paulo.