Clark Thread Company

Administrative / Biographical History
George A Clark & Bros Inc, selling agents, Newark, New Jersey, USA, was formed to act as the sole and exclusive agent of The Clark Thread Co, thread manufacturers, Newark, New Jersey, USA.

George A Clark (1824-1873) was the second son of John Clark, one of the founders of J & J Clark & Co, thread manufacturers, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland (which later became Clark & Co Ltd, thread manufacturers, Paisley). George Clark had formed the company, Kerr & Co Ltd, cotton manufacturers and selling agents, Paisley, with his brother-in-law, Peter Kerr, in 1850 . He moved to America six years later with his brothers Alexander (1837-1877) and William, acting as import agents for companies, Kerr & Clark, thread manufacturers, Paisley, and J & J Clark & Co, thread manufacturers, Paisley. He stayed during the American Civil War (1861-1865) and formed with Alexander and William the Passaic Thread Co, thread manufacturers, Newark, New Jersey, USA, with a capital of&36;750,000 in 1865 , in order to overcome the increased American tariffs on imported thread. The name changed in 1866 to The Clark Thread Co, and the capital was increased to&36;1 million to help finance a new mill. The base was in Newark, New Jersey, USA. The purpose of the company was the manufacturing and selling in New Jersey of spool sewing cotton, yarns, thread and other such products. George also became a partner in Clark & Co Ltd, thread manufacturers, Paisley, in the same year. Alexander took over control of The Clark Thread Co after George died, but died himself soon thereafter. John, James and Stewart Clark then became directors and moved the financial control to Paisley, Scotland. William remained in America to oversee the management of the business until his death in 1912.

In 1917, the company was merged with The Clark Mile-End Spool Cotton Co, also based in Newark, shares of which were owned by Clark & Co. In the same year, Clark Thread Co purchased the American business of James Chadwick & Bros, cotton manufacturers, Bolton, England. In 1934, Kerr & Co were appointed as their agents in regard to the purchase of raw materials for the mills. In 1937, shares owned by Clark & Co were transferred to I P Clarke & Co Ltd, thread manufacturers, Leicester, England. A year later, the stock of Clark Thread Co was decreased from&36;18,000,000 to&36;9,000,000 with shares decreasing in value from&36;100 to&36;50 each. The Clark Thread Co was purchased at the end of the nineteenth century by J & P Coats Ltd, thread manufacturers, Paisley, when the latter amalgamated with Clark & Co in 1896 .

William Campbell Clark (1841-1902) and John William Clark, sons of John Clark, started the firm George A Clark & Bros Inc, selling agents, together with Richard V Lindabury, in 1897 , with a capital stock of&36;100,000. Their base was in Newark, New Jersey, with an office in Glasgow, Scotland. The two Clark brothers held the majority of the 100 shares, with Richard Lindabury transferring some of his to Robert Brown Symington, Robert Cumming and William Wilson, all of whom, along with the Clark brothers, were made directors. The firm was to act as the sole and exclusive agent of Clark Thread Co; Clark Thread Co in return were only to sell to George A Clark & Bros. Clark & Co held the majority of the shares in George A Clark & Bros, which was dissolved, by agreement of the board, in 1917 after all its shares in the Clark Thread Co were transferred to Clark & Co.

In 1755 James and Patrick Clark began a loom equipment and silk thread business in Paisley, Scotland. In 1806 Patrick Clark invented a way of twisting cotton together to substitute for silk that was unavailable due to the French blockade of Great Britain. He opened the first plant for manufacturing the cotton thread in 1812. In 1864 the Clark family began manufacturing in Newark, New Jersey, U.S., as the Clark Thread Co.

In 1802 James Coats set up a weaving business, also in Paisley. In 1826 he opened a cotton mill at Ferguslie to produce his own thread and, when he retired in 1830, his sons, James & Peter, took up the business under the name of J. & P. Coats. The firm expanded internationally, particularly to the United States. In 1890 Coats listed on the London Stock Exchange, with a capital base of £5.7 million.

In 1952 J. & P. Coats and the Clark Thread Co. merged. In 1961 a merger with Patons and Baldwins created Coats Patons. In 1986 a merger with Vantona Viyella created Coats Viyella. In 2003 Guinness Peat took Coats private and in 2015 the business returned to the market as "Coats Group".