Jade-K Dash Covers

“A Name You Can Trust, A Quality You Can See”

Named after their children, Jade-K by Joel and Maria Saldana is a company that was established in 1989 in Rialto, California. It began as a means to put food on the table and later to put their kids through college.

In 1989, the Saldana’s moved to Rialto by way of Baldwin Park, CA. Joel Saldana worked as a metal man, garnering the respect and admiration of his coworkers as Supervisor for a large aluminum and magnesium foundry, while Maria raised their first 4 kids and made sure their house was a home. One more would be on her way. She puts the K in Jade-K.

Being a new homeowner, Joel found his way to a friend who needed help selling dashboard covers and also saw it as an opportunity to make extra money for the family. So the family began to resell at a local swap meet, but the dashcovers weren’t fitting right and he kept getting complaints and returns. As with all things, Joel took it upon himself to figure out why. That meant he painstakingly measured as many dashboards that he could and began cutting and fixing the patterns himself. The skill of making models and patterns was a skill that he already learned from his full time job, except now he would be cutting materials such as carpet and velour. Patterns were cut, but someone needed to sew them. His wife Maria, as always, made sure whatever adventure Joel went on, he wasn’t alone. She took to her sewing machine and brought the patterns to life.

As with all things, it became a family affair. Along with their young children, Joel and Maria, while still working full time jobs, endured years and years of 5 AM weekend wake up calls working at several swap meets such as; the Rubidoux Drive in Theater, Fontana Bel-Air swap meet and the San Bernardino National Orange Show, putting up with extreme wind, rainy days, scorching heat and cold winters and sometimes there were late night drives to the Indio swap meet on Wednesdays. If you asked anyone at these swap meets where the dashcover stand was, they would point you in the right direction. Everybody knew who they were.

In the year 2012, Joel leaned on Maria and his kids and started making dashboard covers full time when the company he had worked at for 30 years started making company changes. Jade-K the family business named after their children Joel, Ana, Diana, Elena and Karla was now officially in business.

“Paisano,” “El Jefe,” “Don Joel,” “Maestro” is what his customers call Joel on a normal day at the swap meet as he recalls what years a certain make and model fits and how many glove boxes a specific truck has, or where a sensor or a vent may be located because not all dashboards are the same.

Fast forward years later, Jade-K would be selling at multiple locations while all the children graduated college and became professionals in their careers, still helping from time to time during the weekends when ever time allowed. That is, until the pandemic. The family stopped selling at the swap meet and had to resort to Offer up and Facebook Market Place for sales.

“We decided to come to the Pomona Swap Meet & Classic Car Show on March 6, 2022 as the world started to reopen. We are so honored to be chosen to be the featured vendors for June 2023. Our product has always been made to fully satisfy our customers needs and to protect your dashboard. Each pattern is hand crafted, molded cut and sewn to fit each car’s unique designs. They are made with high quality materials and inspected before being placed in stock. Our Dashcovers have been sold to our customers across the United States and Mexico and have been shipped as far as Australia. This last year, we began to bring the Serape styled dashcovers that has become very popular amongst car enthusiasts.”

“This year we will be bringing more patterns, and sports logo designs to capture an even bigger audience. Our goal this year is to finally advertise our brand and put our logo on our product. Today you can find us on Instagram @jadek_dashcovers, Facebook Market Place, Offer up, occasionally at the Beaumont swap meet and here at the Pomona Swap Meet & Classic Car Show.”

“As a token of our appreciation for supporting our family business we will be offering a free air freshener at the June 25th event with any purchase.”

Thank you from the Saldana Family.

 

We are so excited to present Jade-K as our Featured Vendor. Make sure to stop by the Jade-K Vendor Booth on Road 30, Spaces 36 & 38 at June 25th Pomona Swap Meet for all your dash cover needs and a free air freshener!!