THE SOMMERS CENTURY
Charles, shown here in the 1940’s, relentlessly pursued efficiency through the latest technology. We do the same, by sourcing from the most efficient, advanced manufacturers the world over.
EVERYONE LOVES A SUCCESS STORY
Ours begins in 1917, when Charlie Sommers, a turn of the century Polish-American immigrant and grandfather of current president Steve Sommers, was offered a 50% share in a new textile mill in East Stroudsburg, PA. In return, he agreed to relocate from Paterson, New Jersey to manage the venture. Eventually Charlie owned this mill as well as two others. He ran the factories, producing an array of silk fabrics and ribbons, while his wife Rebecca managed the company’s finances.
Surviving hard times during the Great Depression, Sommers’ thrived on a reputation for fairness with customers and employees alike. In the early 1940’s, wartime production shifted to supporting the allied victory.
The legacy of Charles and Rebecca Sommers lives on in our personal approach to customer service and quality control.
Steve Sommers (left) with his management team in the 1980’s. Sommers’ deep experience in the nonwovens sector pays dividends to our customers every day.
A GENERATIONAL TALE
After building the business to over $40,000,000 in sales and taking a hard look at the evolution of world markets, Sommers began to diversify away from the apparel industry, selling its narrow fabric business in 2000, and its nonwoven manufacturing business in 2005. All along, Steve and Jamie cultivated relationships with manufacturers of other types of technologies, building alliances with vendors worldwide. Now, with 102 years of family experience combining applications engineering, manufacturing and sales, Sommers focuses exclusively on marketing its manufacturing partners’ capabilities to a wide variety of industrial sectors. In this era, we are helping customers solve supply chain and application issues that the worlds’ foremost nonwovens manufacturers cannot, or will not, address. Negotiating contracts on our customer’s behalf, Sommers’ shipment volumes have grown by double digits for many consecutive years.