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UpFront
UpFront with Unionwear (Part 1)
Custom Gear, Made Right Here, 25 Years.
By Dave Gardner, Editor/Publisher of The NEEDLE'S EYE
Smart re-engineering allows Unionwear to produce cheaper than imports. So, Mitch Cahn is declaring right now: "The era of cheap imports is over. It's dead."
After graduating from the Wharton Business School and spending two years in mergers and acquisitions at Bear, Stearns, Mitch Cahn started the New Jersey Headwear Corporation in 1992 which would one day become Unionwear.
He landed contracts with Polo Ralph Lauren, Izod, Gant, Barneys, and several skateboard and hip-hop lines to produce caps and hats and then later bags for the fashion industry. Fifteen individuals were doing all of the sewing. When the fashion industry moved offshore he created a market for his products of B2B clients who wanted to cobrand with the “Made in USA” label.
Not unlike other successful domestic manufacturers, Unionwear has had to evolve to survive by continuously re-engineering its products so that it can manufacture locally without sacrificing its clients' profits. Unionwear has ensured its success by making sure that every working minute is spent creating value for its clients.
He landed contracts with Polo Ralph Lauren, Izod, Gant, Barneys, and several skateboard and hip-hop lines to produce caps and hats and then later bags for the fashion industry. Fifteen individuals were doing all of the sewing. When the fashion industry moved offshore he created a market for his products of B2B clients who wanted to cobrand with the “Made in USA” label.
Not unlike other successful domestic manufacturers, Unionwear has had to evolve to survive by continuously re-engineering its products so that it can manufacture locally without sacrificing its clients' profits. Unionwear has ensured its success by making sure that every working minute is spent creating value for its clients.
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Cutting
Goods are cut with Pathfinder’s M5-180 multi-ply cutting system. And one of the benefits of having the Pathfinder system is that Unionwear found a 30% increase in fabric utilization relative to die cutting on their hat pieces.
Because there are so many small pieces with curved edges they can take advantage of Pathfinder's marker-making technology to eliminate the space between cuts.
EmbroideryGoods to be embellished are generally embroidered before the sewing process begins on the in-house multi-head embroidery machines. This allows the finished products to be competitive with imports. Unlike most cap embroiderers, Unionwear embroiders the front panels of their caps and bags on a flat surface before these products are made rather than on the curved surface of finished products (after sewing). This saves up to 50% on costs and results in a larger embroiderable area, no registration problems, and a greater facility with detail. This also allows Unionwear to embroider products generally considered un-embroiderable — the top of a plastic baseball cap visor, the pocket of a tote bag, or the front of a leather portfolio folder.
Tajima embroidery
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Mitch Cahn, Founder/President
Textile Reshoring Specialist:
Hats, Bags, and Promotional Products
Lean Manufacturing
Unionwear has invested heavily in a culture of continuous improvement. They have expanded into niches suited for the agile, local, “lean” manufacturer — small batch manufacturing, lightning-fast product development, and deliveries, medical packaging, travel gear, safety products, and workwear. Now exchange rates and shipping headaches have made local manufacturing attractive again, even for labor-intensive hats and bags. Lean Manufacturing is the concept of training people to use all of their time to just add value to the product and not waste time doing non-productive things.
In 2016, Unionwear was the recipient of the Raymond Hopp Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Manufacturing at the annual New Jersey Manufacturing Awards.
In 2017, Unionwear successfully accomplished a restructuring financed by Reshoring Capital, which enabled it to raise funds to add new product lines, expand its web offerings, and automate its historically labor-intensive operations. By 2018, Cahn was able to acquire the assets of DLX Industries, a Brooklyn, NY manufacturer of binders and portfolios. Unionwear began manufacturing knit ski hats and scarves at the request of its clients when the last union shop that did so decertified its contract. Unionwear launched a new website with nearly 100,000 ‘Made in USA’ SKUs, that enable its users to order custom products as easily as they would use Amazon.
Unionwear takes advantage of its proximity to New York City, the Newark airport, the Newark seaport, and an abundance of skilled laborers. They have reduced their required minimums from 150 to 24 units. Unionwear is now cutting 3,000 hats and 2,000 bags a day with only two people; whereas, previously seven people were needed to produce the same quantities.
Video on who is buying USA Made (skip over the into ad)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mpP_u09Jeo&feature=youtu.be
Video with Harry Moserhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA4MvwYL9Zo
Contact: Mitch Cahn, Founder/PresidentUnionwear305 3rd Avenue W, #5Newark, New Jersey 07107 (USA)Tel: +1-877-932-7864www.unionwear.com
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