Our story started 50 years ago when a determined salesman, an ad guy, and a warehouse full of product collided to create #1 selling metal cleaner and the iconic CLR brand. Watch the video, and scroll on to learn more.
In 1949 Manny Gutterman founded Manny Gutterman & Associates, Inc. as a national sales representative organization. This new company was dedicated to selling all types of proprietary products to chain drug, variety, hardware and department stores and also established an ethical and reliable channel for "close-out" merchandise.
The Hair Wiz Commercial
One such proprietary product was the Hair Wiz — a handy helper for at-home hair cuts. Watch the original commercial!
A friend in advertising asked Manny to sell a warehouse full of cleaning product in barter from a bankrupt client. Of course he accepted the challenge. Manny – along with sons Steven and Arthur – reformulated and repackaged the abandoned product and sold it as Tarn-X® Tarnish Remover.
No, we don’t either... thanks to Tarn-X. The original Tarn-X as seen on tv commercial showed people a whole new way to polish silver.
The Original Tarn-X Commercial
Manny, Arthur and Steven were meeting with business partner Al Eicoff to develop a product that could serve as a complement to Tarn-X. A powerful lime and rust remover was developed. And after some struggles to find a name for the product, Calcium, Lime & Rust Remover was born.
The First CLR Commercial
A high-performer from the start, in its first commercial, CLR was guaranteed to work as easily for you at home as it did on TV.
Alison Gutterman continued the family legacy and became the president of Jelmar. Jelmar developed and grew CLR Brands into the company’s second nationally-recognized cleaning brand. Jelmar continued to develop new and innovative products, including Bath & Kitchen Cleaner, Power Plumber, Mold & Mildew & More.
Our company has been certified as a women’s business enterprise by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.
Alison’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award Speech
In 2024, Jelmar became the first company to receive the EPA Safer Choice Partner of the Year Award for 10 consecutive years: a milestone recognizing their industry leadership and commitment to safer, more sustainable cleaning products.
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