Coats : Turkey named one of top companies for gender equality

3 November 2017

Coats, the world's leading industrial thread manufacturer and a major player in the Americas textile crafts market, has been recognised by the Turkish Parliament for its gender equality. Coats Turkey has been named as one of the top three companies in the country where working conditions show equality of opportunity for women and men.

Turkish Prime Minister, Binali Yıldırım, presented the award at a ceremony on Thursday 2 November in Ankara, Turkey. It was accepted on behalf of the company by Erhan Aras, General Manager, Industrial Zips, Coats Turkey.

The Turkish Parliament created the Committee on Equality of Opportunity for Women and Men (KEFEK), eight years ago. The committee works with Turkish Statistical Institute to review and survey over 300 companies in Turkey.

Rajiv Sharma, Group Chief Executive, Coats, said: 'One of our core principles at Coats is to provide a safe, respectful and inclusive working environment: a true meritocracy where everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed. This is an excellent endorsement of the initiatives of our team in Turkey and also reflects the work of our wider global Diversity and Inclusion Network.'

Recognising the benefits which a truly diverse workforce brings through different perspectives, employee engagement and business performance, Coats launched a company wide D&I initiative in 2015. It includes communications and events, such as marking International Women's Day; and regular D&I Network conference calls featuring internal and external speakers. To support the global programme locally, the project team in Turkey created a three year strategy and action plan which included activities such as working with local businesses to benchmark Coats and learn from their experiences; carrying out a survey to understand employee perceptions; and training in areas such unconscious bias and how to manage a diverse team.

ENDS

For more information and to request a hi res image of the presentation contact:
Kristina Blissett, Head of Communications kristina.blissett@coats.com
T +44 (0)208 210 5084, M +44 (0)7714 539887

Notes to Editors

About Coats

Coats is the world's leading industrial thread manufacturer and a major player in the Americas textile crafts market. At home in some 60 countries, Coats employs 19,000 people across six continents. Revenues in 2016 were US$1.5bn.

Coats' pioneering history and innovative culture ensure the company leads the way around the world: providing complementary and value added products and services to the apparel and footwear industries; applying innovative techniques to develop high technology Performance Materials threads and yarns in areas such as automotive, composites and fibre optics; and extending the crafts offer into new markets and online.

Headquartered in the UK, Coats has a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange.

• Each year we make enough thread to go into 8 billion pairs of jeans - that's one for every person on the planet
• Every month Coats produces enough thread to stretch all the way to the sun
• More than 450 million pairs of shoes are made every year using Coats' thread
• More than 100 million car airbags are made using Coats' Performance Materials thread every year
• In 1879 Thomas Edison used Coats' thread in his experiments to invent the light bulb
• Our Red Heart knitting and crochet yarn brand has been named 'America's Most Recommended' by the Women's Choice Award for three years running
• Our flame retardant Performance Materials threads can withstand temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees Celsius
• Coats is the second largest supplier of zips to global brands