BALMOCOTEX - Premier Exporter and Sorter of Secondhand Textiles

Company overview

BALMOCOTEX SL is a Spanish sorter and exporter of used clothing at Avenida dels Treballadors 8, parcel 2, Polígono Industrial Los Vasalos, 03430 Onil, in the province of Alicante. It sells both for export and into the Spanish home market, and receives visitors by prior appointment.

Onil places the company inside a pattern worth naming. Counting this entry, five suppliers in this directory sit within about thirty kilometres of each other in inland Alicante: Onil, Castalla, Cocentaina and Agullent. That belt around Alcoy has been a textile district for generations, and the used-clothing trade has settled on top of the labour, the sheds and the know-how the old industry left behind.

The grade ladder has a trap in it

Balmocotex publishes four steps: Crema Extra as the best quality, then Primera Calidad, Segunda Calidad and Tercera Calidad.

Read those names carefully, because primera calidad translates literally as first quality and yet it is the second tier here. Anything above it is Crema Extra. That is not sloppiness on the company's part, it is how Spanish grade naming has evolved, but it catches buyers out constantly: a quote for primera calidad from a Spanish house is usually a quote for the tier below the top one, while a quote for Grade A from a British or Dutch house often means the top of that ladder or the step just under Cream.

So never compare grade names across countries without converting them. Ask for the position in the ladder and the defect rule, not the label. The company's own export page helps by mapping its tiers to the international shorthand: Primera Calidad is described as Grade A, garments in excellent condition without stains or significant damage and of recent fashion, and Segunda Calidad as Grade B, with slight signs of use such as small marks or minor wear but still perfectly wearable. Anyone comparing second-hand clothing suppliers across several countries should build that conversion table once and reuse it, and the grade glossary is the reference for doing it.

The packing detail almost nobody publishes

Bales come in 45, 55, 60 and 80 kg, or in plastic sacks. What matters is the next sentence on the site: the bales are wrapped in a very resistant, waterproof plastic raffia so that the contents cannot spoil.

Grades get all the attention and wrapping gets none, which is the wrong way round for anyone shipping to a hot and humid destination. A container crossing the tropics sweats. A bale that sits on a quay in the rain, or in a yard waiting for clearance, takes water through the outer layer. When that happens you do not lose a percentage of quality, you lose the outside of the bale to mould and mildew, and you find out only when you cut the strapping weeks later.

So put the wrap in your specification alongside the grade. Ask what the bales are wrapped in, whether it is sealed or merely covered, and what happens if a bale arrives wet. A supplier that has already thought about this and says so on its website has probably had the argument with a customer once and fixed it.

Bale weights tell you who the customer is

The band from 45 to 80 kg is narrow and every size in it can be moved by two people without a forklift. That is a deliberate choice, and it matches what the company says elsewhere: goods are sorted by type and season for shops and market stalls, split into men's, women's, children's and household textiles.

Compare that with a house offering bales up to 500 kg. The big bale is cheaper per kilo to press and ship but needs machinery at both ends and a wholesaler to break it. Balmocotex is built for the layer below that: the trader or shopkeeper who opens the bale themselves. If you are a container wholesaler reselling bales intact, ask whether they will press heavier for you; if you are a shop, this packing is already the right shape.

Cleaning, certification and the domestic line

Two claims deserve follow-up. The company says it keeps its information and certificates in order and refers to a NIMA registration, which is the Spanish environmental identification number for a registered waste operator, so that one is checkable. It also states that it disinfects and cleans all products before dispatch.

Disinfection is unusual to see claimed and worth pinning down, because the word covers everything from a genuine fumigation or ozone treatment to a rinse of the top grade only. Ask which process, applied to which tiers, and whether any certificate accompanies the shipment. Several destination countries ask about exactly this at import, so a concrete answer is worth having in writing rather than as reassurance.

The process itself is described plainly: from bags of original clothing, inspect, then classify by reviewing each garment one final time, then fold carefully to avoid creases and deformation before packing. Unsuitable items are rejected by hand. That is the standard shape of a manual sort, and the way sorting houses work through original bags explains why the folding step matters to how the goods present on a rail.

Stated export markets are African countries, South America, Pakistan and India, while a separate domestic line sells Crema and Primera to Spanish shops and market traders. For a wholesale buyer on the Iberian peninsula that second line is the more interesting one, since it means you can buy without a container. Contact is [email protected], +34 965 591 343, +34 603 564 320 and mobile +34 666 122 877, with visits by appointment.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Balmocotex based?

At Avenida dels Treballadors 8, parcel 2, Polígono Industrial Los Vasalos, 03430 Onil, Alicante, Spain, with visits by prior appointment.

What grades does it sell?

Four: Crema Extra as the top quality, then Primera Calidad, Segunda Calidad and Tercera Calidad. Note that Primera Calidad is the second tier, not the first, and the company maps it to Grade A with Segunda as Grade B.

What bale sizes are available?

Bales of 45, 55, 60 and 80 kg, or plastic sacks, wrapped in resistant waterproof plastic raffia to protect the contents in transit.

Is the clothing cleaned before shipping?

The company states that it disinfects and cleans all products before dispatch. Ask which process is used, on which grades, and whether a certificate accompanies the load.

Can I buy inside Spain rather than by container?

Yes. A separate domestic line supplies Crema and Primera quality to Spanish shops and market traders, alongside export to Africa, South America, Pakistan and India.