Coats debuts web based sewing thread sampling facility

This unrivalled service offers customers a tool to help them select a precisely matched color sample thread for their needs. It is the only truly integrated thread sampling service that connects brands, retailers and manufacturers online with Coats sales teams, laboratories and production facilities.

Coats match the thread to the fabric using the revolutionary Coats Color CAPSURE device.  The CAPSURE uses a one-click color matching system that accurately identifies color components present in any material and matches them in seconds to a color in Coats extensive database of more than 14,000 shades, which is pre-loaded in the CAPSURE device given to customers.

The sample order is then digitally transferred to our network of color labs.  The lab uses the electronic data to generate color and immediately start sample production.  All the sample details will be stored in the individual clients’ Coats Color Express account.

If the color does not already exist in our database, a dedicated Coats Field Color Expert can help with color selection.  Equipped with a Mobile Color Reader - the latest innovative technology in color management - our experts can analyse any fabric, create a perfectly matched thread color and digitally transfer the results to the nearest lab for production.

Frazer Smith, Chief Commercial Officer, Coats plc, said: ‘Coats Color Express was developed in response to customer feedback and our own research which found that customers were finding it difficult to match the thread color to their samples and turnaround time was too slow.

In response, we developed the fastest and most color accurate thread sampling service in the world, reducing the lead time for thread samples from up to 10 days to between two and three.  Customers wanted fast, accurate color and that is what we have delivered.’

Color Express is currently available in nine countries including China, Turkey, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Vietnam and is being implemented throughout the UK, Europe and Latin America in the next three months then rolled out across the rest of the world during 2013.

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