Kamen Wiping Materials
122 Years of History
1896 – Sam Kamen establishes the Kamen Iron & Metal Co. in Wichita, Kansas and handled only scrap metal, waste paper and old rags. Collecting scraps was a much easier way to start a business since it did not require as much capital for inventory.
1932 – The wiping cloth division was spun off, and incorporated as Kamen Wiping Materials Co. By separating the companies allowed each to focus on specific products and customers which allowed for growth at each company. Kamen Wiping Materials was led by Leo Rothenberg and specialties were restricted to textiles.
1974 – The corporation was purchased by Leonard and Ivonne Goldstein. Ivonne was the granddaughter of Sam Kamen, Leo and Helen’s niece. Leonard and Ivonne continued to grow the company. They successfully became major supplier in the Paint and Sundry’s business by producing high quality scrap for rags used in painting. Ivonne passed away at the age of 82 in 2009.
2004 – Leonard and Ivonne made the decision to enlarge the operation by adding 8000 square feet of new building for a total of 25,000 square feet today. Also at the same Kamen installed new state of the art washers and dryers. This greatly increased the production capacity while also improving the quality of all the washed material.
2009 – Leonard and Ivonne were approaching retirement and decided it was time to sell Kamen Wiping Material. In February of 2009 the business was sold to Southwest Paper Company of Wichita.
2018 – Kamen rebranded its logo, labels, packages, bags, and boxes. The firm sells wiping cloths, towels, polishing cloths, mill ends and knits, paper, non-woven cloth, lint-free and some reclaimed products.
Today – Kamen has been the supplier of wiping materials to many industries over the years such as paint and paint sundries, aerospace, oilfield supply, janitorial and many others. Kamen’s customers are throughout the 48 states as well as Canada.