In 1755 James and Patrick Clark began a loom equipment and silk thread business.

[3] In 1806, Patrick Clark invented a way of twisting strands of cotton together to substitute for silk that was unavailable due to the French blockade of Great Britain.

In 1826 he opened a cotton mill at Ferguslie to produce his own thread[4] and, when he retired in 1830, his sons, James & Peter, took up the business under the name of J.

[5] This move towards local production in the United States was primarily driven by high tariffs on imported goods, including thread.

[3] J & P Coats moved their base of operations to Delaware in 1951 and officially closed the plant in Pawtucket in November of 1964.

[10] Coats was fined €110 million by the European Commission in 2007 for participation in cartels with Prym, YKK, and other companies to fix and manipulate the prices of zips and other fasteners, and of the machinery to make them.