Martex Fiber Southern Corporation, Spartanburg, SC, has recapitalized the company; Martex President Jimmy Jarrett and Milestone joined together with Sovereign Bank and THL Credit to provide the necessary equity capital.

Based in Spartanburg, SC with offices in Philadelphia, PA, Martex Fiber is one of the leading textile recycling companies in the Americas. The firm has the capacity to recycle more than 130 million pounds per year of pre-consumer apparel and industrial textile waste in the U.S. and Central America. Martex sources textile waste primarily from large apparel manufacturing cut-and-sew operations and converts the waste into higher-value remanufactured fiber materials and yarn products, through its Jimtex Yarns division.

Martex has been producing sustainable and environmentally friendly products since the 1970s, but today is focused with a strong mantra: “No Fiber Left Behind.”

In the last two years, Martex Fiber has committed to new product development and plant expansions, including the influx of more than $2 million dollars in new equipment and additional U.S.-based jobs. The firm is helping companies to understand what is possible with waste streams, ensuring that all materials are actually recycled into a product while no materials inadvertently go to the landfill, and potentially creating a new source of revenue for that waste. As the people who work for Martex often say, “Your waste is our raw material.”  

In the next two years, Martex’s corporate goal is to increase its waste collection efforts and expand its product offerings. To meet this goal, Martex Fiber has begun increasing its recycling operation by 30% and has already added substantial new capacity in its U.S. spinning operation in 2012.

“Martex co-founders Marty Zeldin and Jimmy Jarrett built an extraordinary business, providing innovative, high-quality, low-cost products to their customers for almost four decades and earning a sterling reputation,” says John Nowaczyk, principal at Milestone. “We are honored to partner with them and we look forward to helping accelerate the Company’s growth, while maintaining the Company’s culture and core values. We especially appreciate that Marty Zeldin will continue to serve in an essential consulting capacity and as a member of the Martex Board of Directors, even as he is retiring from his full-time duties, and that Jimmy Jarrett will continue in his role as President, Board member and shareholder alongside Milestone.”

Jarrett adds the company’s main focus remains the same. “I am very pleased to partner with Milestone and our new lenders in recapitalizing the company. We are achieving our shareholders’ long-term financial objectives while also ensuring that the company is capitalized to meet our goals for the future. However, the most important things will not change. Our primary focus remains serving our customers and suppliers and acting with the highest level of integrity.”

All Martex Fiber products today are SCS certified for recycled content and manufactured in the U.S. “Driving real change in the U.S. manufacturing sector will depend on companies like ours investing in the U.S. and partnering with textile producers to develop new products and processes,” says Jarrett. “There is great opportunity to make something constructive (from waste) that employs U.S. workers. If manufacturers commit to using more recycled content, we can make a difference in our manufacturing economy and reduce our use of natural resources. Milestone and Martex Fiber will be looking for the best strategies to drive ‘waste re-invention’ and spur new innovation.”