History

The company started in 1984 by R.M. Gainer Sr and his son George, when they bought a cotton gin in Tennessee and moved the equipment to the main site on Broxton Highway in Hazlehurst, GA.  That first year they leased warehouse space, and then built their first warehouse on Odum Street in Hazlehurst the following year and the second warehouse shortly thereafter.  Around 1988 they built Satilla Gin – a second gin in Bristol, GA – and then built warehouses in the Frost Industrial Park in Baxley, GA to support that ginning operation.  Also around that time Grant Gainer, another of R.M.’s sons, came to work for the company and became the financial genius around the operation.  The current corporate office space was added in 1995 when space became tight in the gin offices.  Over the time the Gainer’s owned the gin they grew the business from 10,000 bales to over 60,000 bales.

In 2004 the Gainers sold the operation to a group of growers who formed Cotton Partners, LLC using cooperative principles.  Grant stayed for one year to help transition to the new management team consisting of Chuck Cartledge as CEO and John Girtman as Gin Manager.  Within the next five years, Chuck and John added two more warehouses at the main gin site in Hazlehurst.  Over the next decade they added a third warehouse at the gin and acquired a third warehouse on Odum Street as well.

As the business grew, the need for more and more reliable ginning capacity became evident and in 2018 Chuck and John led the effort to build the new gin at the main site in Hazlehurst.  The new gin, including three Cherokee Magnum 270 gin stands supported by a Samuel strapper and an LP Brown bagger, is capable of sustainably pushing through over 70 compressed bales an hour of high-quality lint cotton.  Once online the new gin allowed the company to close the now antiquated gin in Bristol and perform all the work under one roof.  With the new gin as the capstone to his illustrious career, Chuck Cartledge retired in 2020.  Gary Evans became the new CEO in the spring of 2020.