History

Sabco… A household favourite since 1892

Sabco was founded in 1892 in Adelaide, South Australia as the South Australian Brush Company! Mr W.E. Hay formed the South Australian Brush Company with limited production facilities and just three employees. It quickly grew and like most manufacturing at the time, production was carried out by hand Craftsmen and the company’s product range covered no more than household brushware.

In 1979, the company established a garden products division, acquiring Melbourne Company Dawn Plastics. Then in 1993, Sabco merged with Tomlin Industries to form a new company, Sabco Australia Ltd. Tomlin, this partnership saw them become leading manufacturers of cleaning products, metal and plastic homewares. They also manufactured Australia’s largest range of metal bins, mop buckets, council and general tidy bins.

Day by day, week by week, the product range expanded and the business grew. It wasn’t long before the company was the largest supplier of brooms & brushware in Australia, and SABCO became a well-known brand!

In 1981 Sabco’s TIMER TAP received the Prince Philip Prize for Australian Design in the Consumer Products Division.
Australian TV Advertisement for the Sabco Timer Tap shown below.

Several acquisitions and brand identity changes took place over years including acquisition by HWI in 2003, where a world sourcing program aimed to provide even more innovative products to Australian consumers.

May 2007 saw the introduction of Libman USA family to the Sabco family, with the company taking 50% ownership of Sabco Australia Pty Ltd. The Libman business brought with it a wealth of history and experience in the cleaning field, and made Sabco a truly international business. Established in 1896, Libman USA manufactures top quality products out of their highly automated facility in Illinios. The vertical integration of this plant allows for high quality standards to be maintained, resulting in a consistent level of quality to the consumer! Sabco will adopt the proven best practises from the Libman model, resulting in better service to our customers!

In 2009 The Libman Company took full ownership of the Sabco business. The long term future of the brand is secured thanks to their wealth of experience in the brushware category!

In 2011 the MR CLEAN brand was added to the Sabco range with it bringing a comprehensive range of cleaning tools, cloths, scourers and specialist automotive products.  The MR CLEAN brand offers a simple and efficient solution for all cleaning tasks in and around the home – the go-to handy helper!

2019 welcomed OAKWOOD to the group of companies, injecting a range of cleaning products to provide the best quality cleaning solutions for your wooden furniture, the family pet and all your leather goods, from your saddle to your designer handbag and leather car seats.

Sabco is steeped in heritage and we plan to be around for the next 100 years by constantly searching for opportunities to improve, by way of innovation and with a passion to provide our customers with the best quality product possible. We are driven by wanting to remain the trusted cleaning brand that consumers have enjoyed since 1892.