Profiles in Textile and Carpet Recycling, Summer 2004

Sandler Brothers

by Maggie Coulter

Raised in the scrap metal business, Rick Chesney has been involved in textile recycling for longer than he likes to admit (since at least 1968). One day, many years ago, Chesney went to help his uncle start a new job cleaning out hospitals and institutions for the state of Pennsylvania. They soon discovered that the job entailed disposing of old sheets and towels and not long after they were in the textile recycling business.

A year and a half ago, Chesney was hired by the president of Sandler Brothers, Moris Herscowitz, to help direct operations at their Los Angeles facility. Sandler Brothers, which has been making industrial rags for more than 60 years, was bought by Herscowitz about ten years ago. The Los Angeles plant, also their corporate headquarters, employs 47 people on roughly 2 1/2 acres. The 60,000 square-foot facility is about the same size as their Chicago plant. Their largest facility is a 120,000 square-foot plant in Georgia; they also have a 65,000 square-foot facility in New Jersey.

Sandler Brothers’ core business is wiping rags, which it sells to janitorial supply stores, paint stores, beer manufacturers, industrial supply houses, hardware stores, and others. “Rag dealing is an old business,” Chesney smiles. “It started when people started needing cloth to wipe things up. It really got going with the coming of the industrial age and machines. Vendors would go around and collect threadbare clothes and turn them into wiping rags.”

Most of Sandler Brothers’ feedstock is from clothing rejected by thrift stores which they buy from graders. “We don’t get involved in grading of used clothing,” explains Chesney. “That is a whole thing in and of itself and it is also very competitive. These people specialize in sorting and marketing used clothes that the thrift stores couldn’t sell.”

Sandler Brothers’ workers sort the used clothing into all-cotton and mixed cotton. To discern the fabric type, Chesney explains, they sometimes use a fire test. Cotton will smolder and poly-cotton mix will melt. Workers cut off the neck, buttons, and sleeves and then cut what is left into rectangles.

Sandler Brothers also buys preconsumer textiles directly from linen or clothing manufacturers. This includes the scraps of material left from cutting out clothing. Sometimes they’ll get several yards at the end of a run of fabric that wasn’t long enough for the manufacturer to make what they wanted to from it. Another source was cloth originally intended to be wrapped around perfume bottles that were then packed inside a box. They made this material into polishing cloth.

Expansion into Non-Woven Material
In the past few years, Sandler Brothers has been able to expand, in part with the help of a loan through the Recycling Market Development Zone program. Other funds for the expansion came from a commercial real estate loan by a private bank and matching funds from the owners.

Part of Sandler Brothers’ expansion has included non-woven or non-loom material. “This is material which is made from cellulose. It is basically wood pulp, water, and glue which is melded using high pressure injection heating,” Chesney explains. “The cellulose gives it strength.” Some of the non-woven material is paper rags. “Paper was only accepted as a wiping material in the past ten years,” Chensey clarifies. “If you add oil to paper, it will cause friction and pick up dust. But, paper isn’t good for heat. Also, for wiping metal, cloth picks up little bits that would get caught on the paper and then rub against your skin.”

In the past four years, Sandler Brothers has been selling non-woven materials for nursing home and veterinary supplies. They purchase seconds and production overruns of paper cloth and cut it into new products, including disposable wipes, patient gowns, bibs, bed liners, dressing gowns, and exam table coverings. Originally this paper cloth may have been intended for these same purposes but was rejected by the manufacturer because of color or overproduction.

Other Products & Services
Sandler Brothers also purchases closeout textiles or those rejected because of color irregularities, mislabeling, or other reasons. One example was fabric that which was to be made into bedding, but the dye lot was not the right color. Sandler Brothers bought the material and shipped it to their Georgia plant where it was sewn into sheets etc. and then packed in sets or included as part of a “bed-in-a-bag” product (matching sheets and pillow cases).

“We also buy bought manufacturer-rejected throw rugs,” explains Chesney. “We cut off the labels, repackage and sell them. “We recently did something similar with terrycloth lounge chair covers. After removing the label, we designed a new slip-sheet describing the product, wrapped them in plastic, and sold them to hotels for $40 a piece.”

They also offer a laundry service so that companies that buy the rags can also have them washed. “This saves the company money since rewashing is cheaper than buying new rags,” notes Chesney.

“We have stayed out of vintage clothing which is a specialty in the business,” Chesney noted. “People buy and recondition used clothing or make it into pillow covers.”

A new area for Sandler Brothers is selling material for respinning into new yarn made from cotton and poly-cotton mixes. “We sell pieces of cut-out fabric, which are too small for rags, to a company in Italy and one in Spain. They thrash the material and respin it back into yarn. I believe they only use preconsumer textiles, not used clothing, and they only want white.” Chesney was not aware of any companies in the U.S. doing respinning.

Sandler Brothers also processes burlap, plastic, sisal, and cloth shipping bags they buy at loading docks. “These bags were used to transport coffee, cocoa beans, rice, and other materials from overseas,” notes Chesney. “Once the bags are emptied into a larger container, they aren’t needed. We buy them, sort out the dirty and ripped ones, clean them and resell them as bags or cut them up for rags.”

It is a creative business, Chesney explains. “All our raw goods were intended for something else. We buy what the manufacturers don’t want and the thrift stores can’t sell. We sort it, cut it, fold it, repackage it, and sell it.”

Contact Information
Rick Chesney
Sandler Brothers
4101 Whiteside Street
Los Angeles, CA 90063
1-800-423-0317; (323) 269-0494
sandlerbros@sbcglobal.net
www.sandlerbros.com/index1.html

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Last updated: August 01, 2008