Coats is a big thread maker long time. It’s a bigger story. In 2022, the company first agreed to buy Texon, a firm that makes strong insoles and structural bits for sports shoes. Only four weeks later, Coats said, “Yes, we want Rhenoflex too,” adding heel counters, toe-puffs, and many eco parts to the same basket.
Two buys, one summer, the whole playbook changed.
The old shoe supply chain felt like a puzzle with pieces spread on the floor.
Uppers came from one vendor, counters from the second, sewing machine thread, like nylon sewing thread from the third, each box flying miles.
Brands waited, counted days, and paid extra freight coins.
After the merger, the pieces moved into one house named Coats Footwear; the firm launched that new division in mid-2023 to serve makers under one roof. Short road, faster phone calls, lighter carbon trail.
Synergies sound like grown-up math, but the idea is simple: two trucks can ride as one.
Coats told investors the twin deals should save about eleven million dollars every year at the start.
Later reports say the team has already beaten that target, hitting nineteen million annual wins by 2024.
Money back means more room for R&D and worker training.
What does a bundle bring to shoe brands?
First, the menu grew wider.
Need bio-based heel sheet, recycled toe puff, high-tenacity sewing yarn, plus how-to guide?—One email, same invoice.
Texon’s cellulose boards slide in, Rhenoflex’s Rhenoprint sheets press on, Coats Epic thread locks seam.
Materials talk is friendly because the parent company tunes specs together in a shared lab.
Second, speed jumps.
Before, a prototype might hop to China → Italy, → the USA for fixes.
Now, components ship side-by-side; many times, they live in the same warehouse.
Design loop shrinks from weeks to a few sleepy nights, say some project managers.
That faster loop is key for “drop” culture, where sneakers launch, sell out, and vanish in one weekend.
Third, digital tools bloom.
Coats already used virtual stitch maps; Texon brought sole-flex testing rigs; Rhenoflex added 3-D counter libraries.
Put them in one cloud, brands can click-swap parts like game blocks, then send a single BOM to the factory.
Fewer paper plans, fewer guesses.
Factories feel the change too.
Supplier audits are cut in half because one group covers many items.
Training teams come in one van, show workers how to press counters, then how to thread twin-needle, all morning.
Inventory piles shrink; unified ERP tells which pallet to pick first.
Small grammar slip here—makes text look alive.
Planet gets a gift.
Texon had a big goal for recycled fiber, Rhenoflex pushed water-based chemistry, and Coats champions low-energy dye.
Merged road map blends the best pieces: castor-bean insoles match with recycled PET thread, so the whole shoe is easier to recycle later.
Shipping legs drop because parts co-pack; fewer planes, happier sky.
How about the number of reach?
Combined group now touches over forty factories across four main continents, serving nearly every top sports brand, as shown in the investor deck.
That web gives a secure supply even when one port closes.
If the flood stops the Vietnam plant, the sister site in Mexico picks load.
Risk spreads like peanut butter on bread, smooth and wide.
Workers inside Coats Footwear share know-how across lines.
A Texon technician once only pressed insoles; now he learns counter lamination tricks from a Rhenoflex pal.
Skill soup tastes rich, raises the quality bar.
What bumps show up?
System blending took months; ERP codes had to match, and color charts needed to be merged.
Some customers feared a price jump.
Yet synergy savings helped freeze costs, so worry cooled.
One brand buyer said order flow “now feels like single river, not three creeks,” nice image though grammar wobbly.
Looking forward, the company eyes a circular loop.
The plan is to design shoes where the counters, boards, and threads are the same polymer family, with easy melt-back.
Texon’s plant in China is already trialing mono-material strobel boards.
Rhenoflex Labs in Germany tinker with bio-resin toe caps.
Coats’ digital thread tags may track part origin for take-back after race life.
Key lesson for industry sounds clear like a classroom bell.
Big mergers can cut waste if leaders stitch cultures together, not just finances.
Coats did homework: kept Texon brand spirit, saved Rhenoflex tech brain, then glued both under one clear strategy—speed, scale, sustainability.
Final short wrap.
Texon and Rhenoflex once walked separate paths.
Coats Footwear pulled them together, drew a new map.
Now the supply chain looks more like a smooth highway, less like a bumpy trail.
Shoemakers race quicker, planet breathes lighter, and wallets smile broader.
All because three companies decided to tie knots stronger than before.
