Started in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1957 by two Topeka High School graduates F. Mark Garlinghouse class of 1932 and LeRoy Clark class of 1931, M-C celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2007.                                

LeRoy Clark approached Garlinghouse in 1956 to invest in a “plastic fabrication” start up which they named Mark Clark.  They later had to add a hyphen between the Mark & Clark due to a threatened law suit by General Mark Clark of World War II fame. The company competed with another Milwaukee based company Polo Plastics which Mark-Clark acquired in 1964.  Early products of the firm included; vinyl furniture covers which were popular before scotch guarding, a fiber glass insulated toilet cover to prevent condensation from forming on the tank before air conditioning, an automobile baby bottle warmer that plugged into the cigarette lighter, as well as many custom medical and industrial products.

Clark left the company in 1962 to start up another business.  George Liesmann became president when Clark left and held that position until 1971.  F. Mark Garlinghouse was an executive with South Western Bell in St. Louis & AT&T in New York and was never active in the day to day operations of the company but remained as Chairman of the Board until his death in 1982. 

Mark-Clark as the company was called in the early years had its first connection to Kansas when it opened a manufacturing plant in Bellville in 1967 and at that time changed the corporate name to M-C Industries Inc.  Governor Robert Docking was there for the plants grand opening in June 1967. 

M-C built a new plant in Monticello, Iowa in 1969 and in 1971 ceased manufacturing in Milwaukee and moved the headquarters to Topeka where the Garlinghouse family had other business interests.   B. Kent Garlinghouse joined M-C in 1971 as President and CEO and became Chairman of the Board in 1982.  Ford Ross re-joined M-C in 1972 and has served as president since 1992 and CEO since 1998.

M-C acquired Topeka based Sunflower Graphics in 1986 and later changed the name to Sunflower Marketing.  Production, warehousing, and fulfillment for Sunflower are located in Geneva, Nebraska.

M-C sold off its Mark-Clark and Secure Ticket divisions including the Belleville plant in 1997.   Currently M-C has two marketing divisions, Sunflower Marketing and Polo Custom Products with it’s corporate office in Topeka and manufacturing facilities in Iowa, Nebraska, Mississippi and China the company employees over 400.

Sunflower Marketing specializes in logoed apparel including shirts, jackets, and hats but also offers a full range of promotional products to corporate clients.