Unionwear president Mitch Cahn was a featured speaker at the NJCPA’s 2021 virtual conference, where he talked about his experience in manufacturing during the pandemic.

After most of its orders were cancelled abruptly in 2020, Cahn said that his company got to work immediately in calling hospitals to see how they could switch to make personal protective equipment (PPE). “I wanted to involve everybody since things that I think are great ideas are not always great ideas. My staff will tell me I have a history of hiring people who are not ‘yes’ people to me. They will tell me when my ideas are bad. That’s the only way to operate a business,” said Cahn. After Zoom calls every day and hearing from his purchasing, engineering, inventory and sales departments, they worked out a plan.

Before the pandemic, when Unionwear had 17 presidential clients, an Olympic team to supply and it had increased its staff to about 175 — its largest amount ever — Cahn explained that their biggest problem was finding enough sellers. “It was a disadvantage at the time. But, in retrospect, it was an advantage that we got hit really quickly, really early with the cancellations of the events,” explained Cahn. When the pandemic shut down businesses, he noted, “We were in full-on survival mode. This could wipe us out. I could not keep a staff of 175 around all summer without any work. It will put us out of business.” He said they had to immediately react to what was going on in the world — and they did.

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