SPONSORED CONTENT MADE IN USA, POWERED BY INNOVATION: Unionwear’s Moment UNIONWEAR HAS MANUFACTURED accessories in Newark, New Jersey since 1992. When it comes to ballcaps, knit hats, totes, backpacks and padfolios, the answer to “do you have” or “can you make” is always “yes.” Despite dominance by cheap imports, Unionwear succeeds in the promo industry by highlighting opportunities to resell USA made promos, and relentlessly innovating with technology designed to solve distributor problems. Unionwear’s opening of the first fully automated canvas tote bag and backpack facility in North America – and the launch of the first AI-powered full-bleed bag design tool for its distributors – coincides with the perfect storm of exposure for “Made in USA.” The USA’s 250th birthday and a USA-hosted World Cup in 2026, presidential primaries for both parties in 2027 and a USA-hosted Olympics and presidential election in 2028 will produce countless promotional, highly valued keepsakes. Opportunities begin in 2025 when the Army, Navy and Marines all have 250th anniversary celebrations planned, and domestic manufacturers celebrate 250 years of “Made in USA.” End users will address the question of “domestic or import?” every time they explore logo merch – and run the risk of damaging their own brands with contradictory messaging and country of origin labels. Unionwear’s use of automation to reduce the cost differential between domestic and imported bags by 75% should help this decision. So should supply chain issues like proposed tariff increases, and labor, climate and geopolitical risks, especially in an industry so reliant on event dates. Being the only union made baseball cap landed Unionwear its role as the primary headwear supplier for presidential campaigns since 1992, but the company’s famous Kamala camo hats went viral in 2024 because recent proprietary innovations enabled a distributor to design a hat online and sell 25,000 units the next morning! The explosion of headwear color, shapes and options made inventory and delivery a nightmare for importers. Unionwear has the ability to make any style quickly, but selling this ability online using configurators never caught on in B2B. Unionwear responded with a webstore with over 100,000 SKUs with virtual patch, logo, cord or visor applique placement – the largest selection in the world. Minimums start at 24, and dozens of styles are available for immediate shipment. Unionwear’s artificial intelligence powered tote bag designer – available for demo at The PPAI Expo (booth 3651), will similarly enhance distributor productivity. Users can design a background, such as “cartoon NYC skyline” or “earth tone polka dots,” upload elements for the foreground, and generate a print-ready file. After decades of small batch manufacturing high-end custom bags for the core USA-made market – unions, government, veterans and political groups, Unionwear is seeing growth from domestic manufacturers in auto, food, and beverage promoting themselves as “made in USA,” or brands sensitive to worker rights and environmental issues due to a combination of lower costs due to automation, higher import prices and generational USA-branded events. Distributors with clients in these categories and Unionwear products in their tool kits will be most able to capitalize when “Made in USA” has its moment. distributor.unionspecialties.com PPAI • JANUARY 2025 • 61
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