tradition

As a family business, tradition is the basis of our actions.

The Family

For more than 100 years, we are successfully running the business as a family. Our family originates from Rotterdam which is reflected in our family values: sociability, reliability, being down-to-earth, hands-on and no-nonsense.   

As a family we have a strong commitment to our employees. We are respectful and loyal, always being transparent to our working methods. In our work we retain a realistic view keeping in mind that if you want to achieve something, you should roll up your sleeves and get it started. The best way to move forward is by just doing it.   

The Group

Boer Group teams up the strength of our companies and partner companies within one Group. All Boer Group companies share the same values and follow the same mission. The aim of any of our expansions is to further strengthen the Group activities to close the textile loop. In doing so the Group generates organic growth from within.

Our companies

We have a stake in

The Brand

The family is the core of the Group. As a family business, you think more long-term and sustainable. Together with the family's traditional values and attitudes, the Group's innovative and networking power builds up the brand, the essence of our actions. Boer Group, as a brand, stands for trust and consistency.  

Our History

1st generation: late 1890s

Dirk Boer – laying the foundation

  1. 1890s

    Setting up the trade to pick up rags and scraps door-to-door and sell them on to wholesalers.

  2. 1908
    tekst op pand Dirk Boer

    Dirk Boer settled in Josephlaan in Rotterdam-West. He rented an upstairs apartment and a shed to collect the goods and sell them on.

2nd generation: 1920s-1940s

Gerrit I Boer – expanding trade

  1. Dirk’s son Gerrit Boer continued these activities at the Josephlaan and expanded the trade. Gerrit traded everything from rabbit skins to waste paper, rags and metals.

3rd generation: 1940s – 1980

Gerrit II Boer - establishing trade in textile

  1. 1945

    After the Second World War young Gerrit Boer was determined to succeed again in the trade of metals and rags, choosing Josephlaan as business center.

  2. 1951

    Gerrit Boer invests in a large site at the Waalhaven. The new location marked the growth of the company and the ambition of Gerrit Boer, who invested almost every cent in the company and laid a solid foundation for what would grow into the current Boer Group.

  3. 1970s

    After years of more and more specialization in textiles. In the 1970s, and from that time onwards, Gerrit Boer decided to only focus on trading post-consumer textiles. Higher quality rags were collected from schools in Germany, raising the importance of this material for the business.

  4. 1978

    Gerrit Boer started a new company focussed on textile sorting: Gebotex, an abbreviation of Gerrit Boer Textiel.

4th generation: 1980-1987

Gerrit III Boer

  1. Gerrit III took a seat in the board of the family business after his father passed away in 1980.

  2. 1984

    The Belgian sorting company Evadam, located in Roeselare, was acquired and had been added to the family business.

  3. 1986
    Historic photo of Marbo Used Clothing

    Marinus Boer, son of Gerrit II, set up his own sorting company Marbo in Dordrecht, a contraction of Marinus Boer.

  4. 1987

    After Gerrit sold his shares to the family business, the family business was running under the leadership of Smaal, van Andel and Marinus, who formed the foundation board.

  5. Soon Marinus Boer and his company Marbo became part of the Group.

  6. Boer & Smaal holding founded in September 1988

4th generation: 1987-2015

Marinus Boer - expanding & acquisitions

  1. 1968

    Marinus Boer started working for the family business. In 1978 he became the manager of Gebotex and in 1986 he started Marbo Used Clothing.

  2. 1990

    Marinus Boer took over, together with Willem Smaal, the shares from the rest of the family. At that time the holding company owned five successful sorting companies in The Netherlands and in Belgium

  3. 1993

    The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 opened Eastern European markets. This marked the beginning of a new strategic orientation by expanding the business in the field of collection of textiles. In 1993 Curitas Belgium was established.

  4. 1999-2001

    Marinus started to focus on expansion. In 1999 Marinus started Curitas Netherlands. Not much later a new sorting company, Euro Used Clothing, was established. In 2000 Boer Group took a minority stake in MTS Euro Products, a company trading in cleaning rags. To expand in the German market, Boer Group participated in the Striebel family company to increase sorting and collection in Germany.

  5. 2001

    With the acquisition of FWS, one of the largest German collection companies , the sorting companies in the group were provided security for the supply of unsorted textiles. In addition to the collection company, three sorting companies were acquired which also became part of the company: Alta-West, Alta Hildburghausen and Textrade.

5th generation: 2015-now

Jorik Boer - optimizing & circularity

  1. 2008

    Jorik started working for the family business in 2004 and took a seat on the board next to his father in 2008 after Marinus involved his children in the group. Jorik focussed on improving efficiency and modernizing the sorting work. The collaboration between the then separate working companies in the group was increased, by sharing data, network and knowledge with each other.

  2. 2013

    Establishment of Tardis Vintage. Tardis Vintage is a sorting company specialized in sorting retro clothing and accessories sold to vintage shops and wholesalers.

  3. 2015

    Since Jorik became CEO in 2015 he has made great strides towards the goal of becoming circular. This resulted in the establishment of Boer Group Recycling Solutions in 2015. Subsequently Jorik was systematically underway to acquire new affiliates wherever he deemed it worthy.

  4. 2018

    Expanding the French collection company, a new sorting company – Gebetex Tri – was established in Vernon - a joint venture with the Bourgouis family business Gebetex Collect.

  5. 2018

    Acquiring Frankenhuis. With this acquisition, the chain in the circular economy for post-consumer textiles had been closed within the group. Frankenhuis' close cooperation with fellow Boer Group companies ensures a constant supply of raw materials. This has resulted in further growth in the production of mechanically recycled post-consumer textiles.

  6. 2022

    Stake in Berlin based start-up MOOT is closing the important gap of upcycling within Boer Group.