Mitch Cahn saw his entire summer’s worth of production laid out. His shop was going to produce hats for the U.S. Olympic team, manufacturing the line that organization would wear and sell. It was already manufacturing hats for all of the Democratic presidential nominees. Then his company would make more hats for the fall. Presidential merchandise was a lifeblood for Unionwear and the Newark, N.J., factory where they are produced.

As one of the few textile manufacturing factories in the United States, Cahn said, its “Made in USA” emblem was a premium companies want to be associated with. When a presidential candidate or the team representing the U.S. abroad wants a hat, they also want it, well, made in the U.S. — and that’s Cahn’s business.

But everything went awry quickly in early March. All but two of the Democratic candidates dropped out. Then the novel coronavirus pandemic started to hit the United States in full force, dramatically slowing down business along with the rest of the country. A few weeks later, Unionwear cut their staff, too, sending workers home and trying to figure out how they would operate in this new world.

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