Millions of people across the country are eagerly awaiting the moment presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris announces her running mate, an event that is expected to happen Tuesday morning.
Few have a bigger vested interest than Mitch Cahn, the founder and CEO of Unionwear in Newark.
Cahn’s not necessarily a political junkie. He’s an entrepreneur. And as one of the few remaining all-union shops in the country that produces baseball hats with a ‘Made in the USA’ logo – a must-use for political candidates – presidential elections can be a windfall for his company.
Cahn is confident that Harris’ selection will bring in a flood of business for one reason: A year that had seen a dearth of orders has taken a dramatic turn for the better since President Joe Biden gave way to Harris a few weeks ago.
“We deal with about two dozen entities that buy this type of merchandise and it has been selling out immediately since the moment that Biden dropped out of the race, and it was clear that Kamala was going to take the nomination,” he said.
“We’ve been selling thousands and thousands of Kamala hats each day and the business has only gotten stronger. It hasn’t slowed down at all.”
Cahn said it could turn out to be one of the busiest election years he’s had – or since hats became the biggest merchandise item in 2008.
The crazy thing: Until Biden dropped out, Cahn said it looked like it was going to be the worst.
“There were no orders for Biden hats,” he said. “We had already written off the year.”
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It’s easy to surmise that hat sales are an indicator of a candidate’s popularity. And Cahn will say the sales show there is huge interest in Harris’ candidacy – versus that of President Biden. But the sales data doesn’t tell the whole story.
Cahn said he expected sales of Biden hats to be slow this year. It always happens when a candidate runs for re-election. Sales of hats supporting President Obama dropped dramatically for his second election, Cahn said.
And the lack of a robust primary – in either party – dulled interest, too, he said.
But the surge of sales around Kamala should not be disregarded, Cahn said. This is more than just the result of being a first-time candidate, he said. The 2016 race taught him that.
Hillary Clinton hats never sold well, Cahn said.
“In a good year, we’ll produce 2,000 hats a day for a top candidate,” he said. “Hillary may have had orders for 10,000 hats total.
“It was funny. I kept reading that she was going to win, and I just thought, ‘Hillary supporters don’t wear hats.’ It turned out she didn’t have as many supporters as everyone thought.”
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While the surge in presidential candidate hats seemingly took off with President Trump’s MAGA hats in 2016, Cahn said it started two cycles before.
“We had orders for millions of Obama hats,” he said.
The surge in the popularity of the hat as the top political promotion came for a number of reasons, Cahn said.
“You don’t have to worry about sizing – and you don’t have to worry about a T-shirt being covered up by a jacket,” he said.
Hats can be worn every day, too.
And then there’s this.
“More and more photography at big events is being done by drones,” Cahn said. “That focuses on everyone’s head. To have everyone wearing the same item really shows support for the candidate.”
Cahn said Unionwear did huge orders for Trump’s MAGA hats in 2016 – but not as much in 2020 or this year.
The reason: Cahn feels most of those hats are now being produced overseas, where it can be done at a lower cost.
Before you rush and make this a political talking point, know this: Cahn does not blame the Trump organization. He said it’s a natural progression of the business.
“Once a hat becomes wildly popular, people outside of the campaign will start selling them to make money,” he said. “The campaign loses control over the merchandise. Trying to prevent others from selling hats that favor their candidate doesn’t make sense. Even if they don’t get any money from the sale, they’re happy that there are still people eager to wear the hat.
“The same thing could easily happen to the Harris campaign.”
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Cahn said Unionwear is ready to be the chief supplier of Harris hats this election cycle.
He said he’s done all he can to clear his production orders until after the convention.
He has staffing on call to work overtime, as soon as today – if the announcement is made as expected.
He even has purchased extra fans and exhaust systems to ensure his facility in Newark will be comfortable for the increased orders he’s confident are coming.
Cahn said he just needs a VP name – and a new logo design. It’s a waiting game – no different than when shops await the winner of the Super Bowl for post-event merchandise, he said.
Then …
“We should have orders out within 24 hours of the announcement,” he said.
Lots of orders.
Cahn said his shop has spent the past week pre-making blank hats that just need to be embroidered with the new logo. Since New Jersey remains a leader in embroidery, other companies in the state will get a piece of the merchandise pie.
Cahn said he expects orders to remain robust through the Democratic Convention in Chicago, Aug. 19-22.
“That will be the biggest opportunity for on-demand retail sales,” he said.
But he’s confident online order will stay strong through the election.
“There’s an incredible amount of demand,” he said.
What does all this mean for the election? Cahn’s not so sure. But he said he does know this.
“I think that it’s a sign that she is a popular candidate if people are willing to wear her name on their head,” he said. “That definitely says something. That may have been part of the problem with Biden, no one supported him enough to walk around wearing his merchandise.”
