The End of the Glitter Conspiracy 

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The guy that invented glitter and also worked on atomic bombs had the potential to do the funniest thing ever.

If something is a HUGE secret and no one wants to talk, it’s always government or military related.

"Should I take out my nose ring" followed by "is that ring american?" is iconic

A client of Glitterex went to one of their board meetings and asked about it. They were told that the largest buyers of glitter from Glitterex are boat manufacturers. There are two reasons why Glitterex may have dodged the question. The first being that creating the drama brings attention to them. The second and more likely reason is that they don't want people to know they're the cause of microplastics being found in fish after coming off of boats.

so the glitter industry isnt really about glitter. its a precision cutting industry. and they work with anyone who wants to precision cut any material that someone needs. Thats far better way of describing it.

The Barbie / Oppenheimer connection we were all looking for...glitter!

The US government isn't heavily invested in the GLITTER industry, but in the PRECISION CUTTING industry. The examples given by Ruschmann for Radar-Chaff or batteries commissioned by the government, don't involve the use of glitter as we know it.

It's weird how some of the theories just kinda miss the important elements - like that the buyer "doesn't want people to know that [their product] is glitter". That should rule out pretty much everything where, if people knew it was glitter, they wouldn't care.

I find it hilarious that the key to cracking the mystery is sibling rivalry. Never underestimate the power of siblings to piss each other off.

The revelation that glitter companies are precision cutting companies first and glitter companies second is actually big. This greatly expands their customer/contract base to possibilities we might not have theorized yet. Also funny that people forgot that edible glitter was a thing for the toothpaste. It is also helpful that the definition of glitter expands to more than just plastic material.

I can't believe you solved a HUGE mystery before getting 100,000 subscribers. This is some real, passionate journalists

Thank you so much for this video! I've been rushing to comment sections under various other videos about the glitter conspiracies so I could tell them about your discovery. Hoping other people will share this amazing piece of content as well so it reaches as many people as possible!

I feel sad that this man was pushed out of his father’s company. Glad he seems ok and was willing to talk

i want to hear more about the glitter family drama. the company politics is insane, how could they fire him, run the company poorly, and not ask for him to come back???

The government is likely the biggest customer overall, but probably not of glitter specifically. The person on the phone call was specific to glitter being the product shipped and specific to an "it" which implies ONE product. This conflicts with the government as their main business is specialized products (not glitter), and used in an array of esoteric products that the public likely wouldn't know or care if it was glitter.

This is why I love RU-vid! Thank you! It seems like I am incredibly bored by content lately. It's been a while since I have found a channel that is both interesting and engaging while telling well-researched stories!

We need a biopic about this guy. His father dicsovered glitter. He himself invented holo glitter, then got ousted by his siblings 🤷🏻‍♀️

So the guy who made glitter also helped make the atomic bomb. The guy who made the atomic bomb is Oppenheimer. Barbie uses glitter in their toys. Therefore, Barbenheimer is more appropriate of a double feature than we could ever have known!

THIS IS AMAZING! You all are amazing, thank you so much. This blows my mind and what my mind yearns for daily

LOVE you all!!! I may be old enough to be your mom, but seriously, you guys are straight journalistic goals - I aspire to be like you when I grow up, no cap! 🙌 Your work is absolutely fantastic, and it's crystal clear that your team is tight-knit because the quality you deliver is off the charts. I'm just a tad bummed there are only 6 videos, but hey, that just proves how much heart you're pouring into each story, and I totally get it. If by any chance the squad is ever seeking extra hands or some help in the Oregon or anywhere PNW, I'd be down to send a writing sample, or resume or something, for sure. I'd be thrilled to lend a hand as an intern (yes, unpaid) 🤭 hopefully learn something about how its done because you guys clearly know. Keep rocking it, and keep those awesome videos coming! 🚀🎥

It feels criminal finding such a good channel so early in its life

I didn’t think I would watch a 27 min video on glitter at midnight Friday… Yet I did and I loved every second of it

Absolutely incredible video, y’all. Thank you for All the hard work and time you put into this, it’s genuinely amazing

I didn't think I'd watch a documentary on big glitter today.

I got glitter stuck in my eye ball once and it caused a major infection that had my eye swelled shut for weeks. I went to the hospital 4 times before they finally figured out it was a shard of metal from glitter from eyeshadow. The infection by that point had spread to my other eye effectively blinding me. It was a horrible experience and I wouldn’t put makeup on my face now if someone had a gun pointed at my head and I haven’t since.

This all feels familiar. My mother works for NASA as an engineer and has worked on things she “can’t talk about” and my dad owns a precision metal cutting company. The way that guy talks about just wanting to keep a low profile reminds me of my dad.

the scope of these videos is so big, can't wait to see what's you all have in store for the future

This channel is by far the most underrated channel on the platform. The production quality is outstanding.

To me, it's probably the Treasury Department. They are EXTREMELY secretive about their counter-counterfeiting processes and would definitely not want anyone to know anything! Even the recipe for the inks used is top secret, not to mention how the 'paper' is made! As they say, the best way to spot a counterfeit bill is not by looking at it but by its feel.

I can't wait for the people to claim "I KNEW IT" as if this team didn't spend over half a year doing proper research

Thank you for this amazing video.keep on going. ❤

Damn, I really think you got it right, and I respect you for not saying it in a way that everyone could pick up on.

I can't believe you guys got an interview the NYT couldn't get. Needless to say, you have a new subscriber.

This guy is an absolute god to nail techs for inventing holo glitter

This video is wicked. Love how you bring in and nurture personal stories in your journalism.

Wow! This is real journalism. Excellent work.

i feel like the point of "don't want you to know that IT is glitter" is being overlooked

Ruschmann clowning on you both the minute he saw you was absolutely hilarious. That’s definitely why they kicked him out of the company 😂

I haven't seen any references made to the patenting documentation for glitter, of which there are many. Checking products back to original patents can often reveal telling information about the conception and attempts to lockup production of the developing materials. What I noticed about some of these details, is how similar many forms of glitter design is to the semiconductor materials used in quantum trapping. As far as the decline of glitter corporations globally, it's a microplastic, they have become very unpopular in the past decade.

These documentaries you've released are insane. This and the sand mafia are some of the best stuff I've watched on RU-vid in years. Credit where credit is due. You and your team have am old school vice feel about your videos

My mother (who is a nurse working for the VA, and has both talked with veterans and organized their benefits) has always said “the military lies lies lies” even to itself. She has worked with the military for 50 years. Please don’t stop if they tell you no or make something up.

Great investigating. As someone who has a job with a government contractor related to the DoD, the secrecy around this doesn't surprise me.

You guys have to make more videos. This stuff is so facinating. I cannot wait for more stories!!!

I didn’t even know people thought about glitter in this way. I don’t understand it but I find this fascinating

Damn. This is the guy that invented holographic glitter! He should be a legend!! I hope people now realise his role in its creation

I remember Adam Savage telling a story once about a Mythbusters episode they couldn't air because they found that, something commonly available, was extremely explosive. I find it really interesting. Not once has anybody said what it was or who forbid the episode airing. I mean it's understandable, we wouldn't want people making explosives with household items, that would be nuts. But he said it was a common thing found in every house, why would they sell such a thing?

I loved this video, felt like hearing new knowledge almost lost forever, I almost wish I was there listening to him. There's large intricate and obscure communities everywhere, frogs, fungi, TTS moonbase alpha, and now GLITTER! Hearing things which have become assumed knowledge for some people which I would have never is top tier stuff. -sincerely Uel

Great video and well presented - held my interest to the end. There are a lot of comments about the sibling who was willing to meet and share information. He revealed some very interesting and key facts about: The history of their industry, the specializations required, specific materials and how they impacted certain usage cases, the multiple applications, past markets, present and future markets, and specific customers and third party industries. His willingness to divulge all of this to two guys showing up who are "interested in the history of Glitter" tells me that he is a huge security liability, and maybe that's why he was fired. The details that he shared gave exact answers (not simply intelligent speculation) to anyone curious about this subject. Clearly he revealed sensitive facts that would be normally covered under an NDA and/or a security restriction for govt. work. Correspondingly, his disclosures would be very bad for a business needing to protect its proprietary and trade secrets, especially if they were doing government work that impacts national security confidentiality (treasury and military were given as examples). This could be why he was bought out and not allowed to continue working with the family. If I had a solid gig going and I was making money and didn't want others competing - I surely wouldn't blab about it.

Worked in Films/Foil/Paper cutting production. Only knew who the material was being shipped to 20% of the time, many of which were medical field but usually only locations, but it was a constant opperation. I can say its litteraly hundreds of tons of material daily, just from the facility I worked at... on another note, people worry about not recycling properly, we threw away SO much non-recylable material, straight into the landfills.

I’m so glad this video exists, now I can stop waking up in a cold sweat once a month when I remember the glitter article

I was so hooked right from the beginning. You make amazing documentaries

Great job on all the work that went into this , for the quality you put out, you guys deserve way more vievers. But honestly what interested me the most was the picattiny batteries , with the lithium supply problems, and of course how more compact / efficient energy storage could change the world and let us make really amazing things. besides, it being picattiny they could be working on railguns because the main challenge is actually supplying the insane amounts of power to the gun. if he really meant batteries tho because he said produce power : 21:46 . but sadly this being the militairy it'll probably remain classified for a really really long time

It’s crazy that your channel is Netflix documentary quality and you only have 56k. Keep up the good work and you’ll get to 1 million subscribers soon.

My guess is that the military uses a specific type of glitter to camouflage military equipment that’s intended to be discrete. Precision cutting of materials that reflect/absorb specific wavelengths of light could be very useful in obfuscating things like aircraft from detection by equipment such as radar.

Man this new era of journalism is so fun, great work

Dude i love your videos!!! I got so excited when i saw the email that he responded!!

All my life I hated glitter with a burning passion, and it seems my senses don't fail me.

I always thought the military theory was the most credible considering how secretive this was, so I'm glad to see more evidence of it. And knowing that "glitter manufacturing" encompasses precision cutting... this is probably the closest to an answer we'll get. There are way too many possibilities and (likely) national security-related legal barriers to figure any more out.

Dude I’m hooked on your videos I wish there was much more I’ve binged almost every one of them

Just found my new favorite channel to binge!

Years ago, before I'd heard about this glitter conspiracy, I watched a video about a company in Asia that used fish scales immersed in water in order to study the dynamics of water flow in and around their devices. When I heard about the glitter, this was my first thought.

I am honored t know who the inventor of holo glitter is, he's made it possible to have some of the prettiest shiny nail polishes around.

Binging this channel. Great job on every story.

If somebody says “they don’t want you to know who it is” my first thought is always going to be the government/military.

Seriously, this video needs more views. I hope they hit trending. It needs to. Interesting topic, great storytelling and editing. All banger videos on this channel so far.

working in chemistry makes this video so underwelming lol

I love this documentary. Watching again!

I don’t think anyone picked up on how carefully she was choosing the words she used. She said “IT is glitter” not “it HAS glitter” so In my opinion whatever it is. IT IS glitter it isn’t something that contains glitter.

I always thought most of the hypotheses were a bit silly because most don’t need to be secret, the only things I thought made sense were the military/government one or the food ones (people would be mad as hell) or the money ones (cuz it’s harder to make fake money if they don’t know how it’s made)

I can remember when chameleon automotive paint was brand, brand new cutting edge tech (figuratively and literally) and its specific composition so closely guarded that body shops making accident repairs to factory painted sn95 Mustangs had to order it by the pint, have it show up to the body shop with a representative of tge company, used as needed and any excess leftovers taken back. We found out later that all the secrecy had little to do paint trade secrets and more to do with the fact that the powdered composition giving the paint its color shifting capability was very close to the same formula the US Treasury was using in top secret currency inks at the time that made counterfeit currency much easier to detect and track. Just a small piece of fairly innocuous US history. Turns out the paint compounds were in no way the same as that used for money inks but it was close enough that the Secret Service didn't want trying to use it to forge currency.

I'm glad you referenced the Endless Thread podcast because I was frustrated that I was certain it was boat paint and that this mystery was solved years ago, but I had no idea where I got that idea.

Imagine how much glitter contributes to micro plastics in the ocean & everywhere else

The production value of the video and sophistication in your investigative journalism is profound. This is phenomenal work. All I could keep thinking was “how lucky that we found this man before he passed away.” Imagine how many other secrets are out there just because no one tried to ask. Keep up the good work 😊

Glitter is a precision cut material with doze and thickness constraints. Something else mentioned in the video were coatings. To produce the iridescence seen in many glitters, you need thin-film optical interactions from incident light. For the visual effect, this needs to be visible light frequencies. I've never considered it before, but thin-film interactions and iridescent scattering could be done at different frequencies by varying the thickness of the coating. I imagine that's likely the main draw of glitter manufacturers for government contracts. They can machine very small particles with coatings that respond in a specific way to specific frequencies of light. I can't think of specific applications, but I'm sure if you needed such a substance, in bulk quantities, glitter manufacturers would be the way to go.

You got me this time, but I'll never watch another one of your videos because of this click bait title.

So much respect for the effort that went into this, a level of persistence so many people have failed to match. You guys are awesome

That man needs a book deal or biopic!! His father invented glitter (by accident, he comes to invent holographic glitter, and his drama about getting kicked out of his father's company... Crazy! If he can get in depth on how glitter first started being sold and then manufactured in quantity that's interesting alone, but then add the drama and the government involvement.. mind blown!

Só cool that I got to see how great the inventor of holographic glitter is! What a remarkable man!

it's the night sky, those lights you see in the dark sky is glitter

One of the first things that came to mind when I first stumbled upon what's now dubbed "The Glitter Conspiracy" was its use in various physical forms of currency around the world as well as other anti-piracy methods in paper and other products. I hadn't considered the precision cutting required to create glitter and how the methods used to create glitter are what's more important to wrapping up this overarching conspiracy. Fantastic research and journalism. The video was a pleasure to watch, not just its quality, but the dedication to follow your curiosity. As someone who absolutely loves learning and teaching, this was truly awesome.

Microtaggants in explosives. It lets the US government know the source of any explosion. Almost all is destroyed, but the trace type and amount left lets them know.

I would love to hear this man go into detail about about the technical part of his business. How its used in rockets, chaff, and other things. He seems like a wealth of knowledge and he was fired from the thing he knew the most about.

We've been in the high end marine and watersports business my whole life. My dad is the only master certified technician in our state. And he told me he thought it was probably all the glitter used in bassboats and wakeboats.

I'm starting to wonder if the secret is meant to protect military assets, not commercial investments. The public knowing of a special use for glitter in the military is just the same as handing over trade secrets to enemies of the state. Regardless, I suspect it's something most of us would deem as benign and uninteresting if it weren't for the layers and layers of secrecy.

Really well done gents. I’ll spill some glitter tonight in your honor and I’ll spend the next 3 weeks finding it still stuck in places and think of you every time.

when i was younger i remember hearing this and being so intrigued by this. Its funny and awesome to learn that I wasn't the only one

A joke a fellow teacher I worked with used to say “Glitter is the herpies of arts n crafts” that really stuck with me

I am BLOWN away. The PRODUCTION and the topic! I didn't even think this was a thing at all!

Based on a number of things mentioned in this video, I'd like to solve the puzzle. I believe the biggest use of "glitter," tiny, precision-cut flakes and rods, is gunpowder (specifically smokeless powder). Read the Wikipedia entry on smokless powder. It is available in several grain styles, including small balls or a variety of extruded strips rods, and cylinders which are cut into short thin flakes or longer cords. The material can also be rolled out as thin films which are then cut into precision flakes. This sounds a lot like the manufacture of glitter to me. Furthermore, it's something that's found in many households (particularly in the US) as well as having military use, and clearly sounds like something "they" wouldn't want people thinking if as glitter. Next, we have the location: both of these glitter factories are in NJ. Mr. Rushman mentioned Picatinney Arsenal, which the US Army manufactured smokless poweder at, as well as the Hercules Powder Company - both nearby. Furthermore, the Wikipedia article mentions the Anglo-American Explosives Company in Oakland, NJ and DuPont's factory at Carneys Point Township, NJ. New Jersey has long been a stronghold of explosives and munitions manufacture. Finally, these companies aren't limited to slicing gunpowder on their own premises; since their IP lies in their precision cutting equipment, and since gunpowder is both A) dangerous, and B) potentially composed of top-secret, proprietary formulations and grain shapes/sizes, I believe these glitter manufacturers operate as vendors running equipment which they own, operate, and maintain within the various gunpowder factories. Vendors providing on-site production is standard in industry. So there it is. Look up images of smokeless powder flakes. It's glitter.

SUPER GOOD editing. Love the click sfx, and motion you add to images. -sincerely Uel

Congrats you are now on a watchlist!

Thank you for interview this gentleman. He looks so deep in love by his invention and at same time is so sad he was backstabbing. I want a full interview with him, please!

That ending prob saves you at least a little if someone wants this taken down. I'm personally happier with all the information out. Very glad to have stumbled upon you all with the Simpsons video. ❤️

20:44 when i started watching this video i was, not even lying. Thinking that glitter was probably made by someone using or selling offcuts, or putting a different material in a cutter or stamper machine. It kinda makes sense of you work in production

Amazing video, my new favourite channel on YT

This was phenomenal. The algorithm just barely allowed me to see & subsequently watch this. Your journalism and editing are top-tier. Subscribed.

I am from Mozambique, a poor Southern african country. When i saw glitter for the first time it was magical. Glitter was not popular in my country and it was a dream to have a glitter lipstick. For me as a child it was the prettiest thing I'd ever seen. I considered myself very lucky to have something that cool.

great video... first time viewer...and a new subscriber, for sure..

Holy fkin video!!! Incredible job guys!