
During the last ITMA exhibition in BARCELONA happens the reappearance of the historic JUMBERCA brand making new circular knitting machines by CANMARTEX. Based in Argentona (BARCELONA), the company designs and assembles machinery for the textile industry.
“Those of us who founded Canmartex came from Jumberca, where we had different management positions“, explains Enric Martí, one of the company’s current partners, along with Josep Maria Dalmau and Vicenç Lloret. Based in Argentona (Barcelona), the company designs and assembles machinery for the textile industry.
Jumberca, the last giants of Catalan textile
The machinery manufacturer Jumberca, based in Badalona (Barcelona), became one of the largest Catalan textile companies. Founded in 1948 by the Dalmau family, the factory went public in 1988, when it had more than 600 workers. The company lived its golden age in the 1980s.
A year before making the leap to the parquet, Jumberca attended Itma with a 770 square meter stand, for which it moved fifteen circular machines, according to the edition of El País at the time. That year, the company’s exports reached 8,000 million pesetas (the equivalent today of 48.08 million euros).
However, starting in the nineties, the company began a period of falling sales, increasing losses and debts, which dragged it to court twice, until it finally faced liquidation at the turn of the century. In 1993, the company’s turnover was 11,000 million pesetas (66.11 million euros today) while in 1997 it was 4,500 million pesetas (27.5 million euros).
When Jumberca made the final closure, in 2002, it had a liability of 56.16 million euros and an asset of 34.19 million euros, according to the edition of Cinco Días that year. The company had been in suspension of payments (the old formula of the bankruptcy process) since 1998 and had a staff of 202 workers. (source: Modaes.es)