# The Glitter Conspiracy: Glitterex’s Secret Biggest Buyer - Original post: https://www.twitter.com/i/status/2119321672167666053 - Source account: [@TinaZimmermann4](https://x.com/TinaZimmermann4) - Source language: English - Duration: 4:47 - Published: 2026-11-13 - Canonical URL: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer ## Transcript [0:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer) Yo, the glitter conspiracy is a rabbit hole you are not ready for. [0:03](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=3) So I didn't know this, but there's legit only, like, two main manufacturers of glitter in the world, both of which are based in New Jersey, of all places. [0:12](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=12) And yes, I'm talking, like, regular glitter, the same stuff you use in arts and crafts. [0:16](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=16) One of these companies is, like, super secret and private, that apparently invented glitter themselves and is very hush-hush about everything. [0:23](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=23) And the other is Glitterex. No one really thought much of it until it came out that we actually have a worldwide shortage of glitter back in 2018. [0:31](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=31) Kind of a weird thing to be short of, so a journalist from the New York Times went in to interview the team at Glitterex to find out. [0:38](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=38) She casually asked if she could tour the factory, and surprisingly, Glitterex told her absolutely not. [0:43](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=43) Like, there was no debate about it. She was strictly not allowed to see how glitter was made and wasn't even allowed to be in a nearby room to even hear how it's made. [0:52](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=52) So instead, she was just left to interview a manager at the company, and things just kept getting sketchier. [0:57](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=57) She asks the manager if she could tell her what industry serves as her biggest market, and the Glitterex rep instantly, without hesitation, tells her, "No, I absolutely cannot tell you." [1:06](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=66) Confused, the journalist asks her if she knows who their biggest customer is, and she replies with, "Oh, God, yes, and you would never guess it. [1:13](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=73) Let's just leave it at that." Asking why she can't talk about it, she responds by saying, "Because they don't want anyone to know that it is glitter," and that if you looked at it, you wouldn't even know that it's glitter. [1:23](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=83) The journalist then asks if you'd even be able to see the glitter at all in the finished product, to which the manager replies, "Oh, you'd be able to see something, but it's... [1:32](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=92) Yeah, I can't." And this interview single-handedly sparked the great glitter rabbit hole of the internet. [1:38](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=98) Apparently, these clients that purchase glitter are all under a very strict confidentiality clause with Glitterex. [1:43](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=103) They really do not want people to know that their products are made from the sparkly stuff. [1:48](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=108) The industry these products are part of is clearly massive, yet no one knows what it is. [1:52](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=112) So, what even is glitter? By definition, it is aluminum metalized polyethylene terephthalate, essentially plastic that has been aluminized and shredded into tiny specks that sparkle. [2:02](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=122) And it's used in a lot of things, from credit cards, passports, currency, football helmets, cosmetics, jet skis, granite countertops, even toothpaste, allegedly. [2:10](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=130) But none of these are quite big enough to be this top industry buyer of glitter. [2:14](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=134) One of the leading theories is that this biggest glitter industry is for boat paint, which many manufacturers do admit they use it in their boats. [2:21](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=141) And they don't want people to know about it because of how much microplastics in the glitter these boats are really dumping into the ocean, which is a hot topic these days and is why they'd want to keep it such a secret. [2:30](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=150) Others claim that it's being dumped into beaches to make the sand sparkle, or that it's just Crest toothpaste and we're rubbing the microplastics directly into our gums, as well as for use in military applications, which would obviously be highly classified, [2:42](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=162) and this is where the theory takes an unexpected turn. [2:44](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=164) Remember that super secret company that basically founded glitter, the other New Jersey company that isn't Glitterex? [2:49](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=169) Turns out they're actually not as big of a secret as they'd like to be, called Meadowbrook Inventions, which was founded by Henry F. Rushmann, a German-American machinist who invented modern glitter in the 1930s, and also happened to be part of the Manhattan Project, [3:04](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=184) the highly classified operation that created the atom bomb. [3:07](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=187) So the guy who invented glitter also helped create the world's first nuclear weapon. [3:11](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=191) Who would have known? Meadowbrook's machines that make glitter are also commonly used for government contracts for products like rocket fuel, airplane brake shoes, and anti-radar chaff, which are chopped-up fibers they shoot out of military planes that can block radar, redirect heat-seeking missiles, [3:25](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=205) and can even be used to simulate poor weather conditions on radar. [3:29](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=209) Good thing the government would never do that. [3:31](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=211) Henry W. Rushmann, the son of the original creator, was interviewed and even admitted to what they were really using glitter for all these years, specifically mentioning money, passports, toothpaste, and all those military applications like that anti-radar chaff, [3:45](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=225) and even mentioned it was used in special batteries they produce for a military contractor called Picatinny Arsenal, batteries that he claimed produce more electricity than any other battery we've ever known, and was pretty quiet about it after that. [3:58](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=238) If there's anything we've learned about the government, it's that they love spending money, and their budget is essentially endless, especially if it's for the military. [4:05](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=245) And given all these military uses of glitter, as well as its founder's roots in the Manhattan Projects and connection to atomic bombs, this one might be our answer. [4:13](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=253) What other industry could be so secret that the New York Times article described it as CIA levels of obfuscation? [4:21](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=261) How about the CIA itself? Perhaps, once again, the government is behind it all, using the same sparkly powder found in children's art projects for military applications, fighter jets, rocket fuel, money, and passports, possibly even some new high-tech super battery they don't want the rest of us to know about. [4:37](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/A9yc29W4I4TN/en/the-glitter-conspiracy-glitterex-s-secret-biggest-buyer?t=277) What a plot twist that would be if glitter, of all things, ends up being the government's top secret weapon to control the masses.