In close elections that depend on turnout, voters’ enthusiasm for one candidate over another is the key to victory.
And what clearer signal could there be than which candidate – Donald Trump or Kamala Harris – sells the most campaign hats?
In a huge gray brick building in New Jersey, workers produce Harris and Trump baseball caps by the tens of thousands.
And forecasters trying to gauge the mood of the country may want to take note of the speed – and output – of their assembly lines.
“We’ve done work for every major presidential candidate since the year 2000,” Unionwear factory owner Mitch Cahn proudly told DailyMail.com.
Unionwear owner Mitch Cahn holds two of the 5,000 Harris Walz hats made for the campaign every day at his 70,000-square-foot factory in Newark, New Jersey, on Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Its 70,000-square-foot factory in Newark is the only union-run manufacturer of baseball caps in the U.S. And they’ve been making campaign hats for 30 years, starting with Bill Clinton’s run for the White House in 1996.
But Cahn really saw things take off with Al Gore’s bid in 2000 and also manufactured caps for both the John McCain and Barack Obama camps in 2008.
Its ability to put “Made in the USA” labels on each cap is a draw for both campaigns and third parties looking to buy caps to support one candidate or another.
The fact that it is a union shop has made it particularly popular for Democratic campaigns.
Amid the hum of whirring machines, nimble hands are busy assembling “Harris-Walz” hats as quickly as they can.
Cahn told DailyMail.com that his shop produces 100,000 caps a month for Democratic Party ticket toppers.
In total, the company has produced more than 300,000 units in the three months since Harris became the nominee, making for meteoric sales compared to previous nominees.
“She outsold Biden by a lot, and Biden was at it over a longer period of time,” he said.
For example, in 2020, Cahn was only asked to make 100,000 hats for Joe Biden.
They didn’t sell well and the president’s re-election campaign was still trying to get them out earlier this year before Biden was forced to withdraw his candidacy.
Hillary Clinton’s hats fared even worse.
“We only sold about 15,000 hats and were the main supplier,” says the owner of Unionwear.
Despite being the Democrats’ favorite merchandise manufacturer, Unionwear also averages a few thousand MAGA hat orders per month.
After crunching the numbers, Cahn revealed that Harris camo patches are selling at an unprecedented level.
Harris is on a pace that exceeds the campaigns of Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and Al Gore combined, he said, and in a much shorter time frame.
He said Hillary Clinton sold 15,000 caps, Gore 100,000 and Biden also only 100,000, while 300,000 Harris caps have already been purchased.
Cahn noted that the store made a million copies for Barack Obama, but that covered the many years from his campaign and re-election to the end of his presidency.
Unionwear’s camouflage cap was debuted by Tim Walz shortly after his first speech as Kamala Harris’ VP pick in early August. Since then, more than 100,000 Harris Walz hats have been sold
Katy Perry showed who she supports by wearing one of the camo Harris-Walz hats in September
The camouflage hats were first introduced in early August, shortly after Minnesota Governor Tim Walz gave his first speech since being nominated as Harris’ running mate.
After the speech, he posted a photo of himself smiling and wearing the new design on X with the caption “closing out the night.”
With its forest camouflage motif and bright orange lettering, the hat immediately flew off the shelves.
The 3,000 camouflage hats first offered after Walz’s post in August sold out in 30 minutes at Harris’ official campaign store, Teen fashion reported.
The hats were such a hit that roughly 50 to 60 percent of Unionwear’s orders for Harris merchandise were for the camouflage and orange design.
And that particular outdoorsman design has blown up among trendy millennials and Gen Z voters.
Celebrities have been spotted wearing the cap, including pop star and American Idol judge Katy Perry, singer Billie Eilish and Star Wars icon Mark Hamill.
The camouflage look is popular among the tough residents of Brooklyn and other affluent coastal neighborhoods that are nowhere near hunting grounds.
Workers at Unionwear in Newark, New Jersey make Harris Walz baseball caps on Tuesday, October 22, 2024
The union-run plant is a favorite of Democrats, who are generally pro-union
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And then there is Trump.
Despite supplying caps to the Trump campaign in 2015, Unionwear was not chosen as an official merchandiser; that would be Louisiana-based ACE Specialties.
ACE’s factory also wrapped up a busy election cycle.
This year, the Trump campaign has shipped nearly 1.3 million hats, DailyMail.com has learned.
Since January 1, 2023, the campaign has shipped nearly 2.1 million official campaign hats to MAGA customers.
“President Trump is the most iconic presidential candidate in history – from historic rallies at Madison Square Garden to record-breaking podcasts with giants like Joe Rogan and Elon Musk, and more than 2 million MAGA hats have been distributed to supporters this cycle,” says RNC- spokesperson Taylor. Rogers said of the sales.
“President Trump’s message of hope and his America First agenda resonate with hardworking Americans and their families. The momentum is on our side because voters know Kamala broke our country, and President Trump is the only one who can do that.”
Despite not being the official MAGA hat supplier, Unionwear regularly receives orders for what Cahn calls “knock-offs.”
He claims that his and other unofficial Trump-supporting caps have completely taken over the MAGA market.
“The Make America Great Again hat is a very different animal than the Harris hat, and that’s because that market has been completely taken over by people selling counterfeit products,” he said.
Still, Cahn says his store will receive roughly 25,000 orders for MAGA hats in an average election year.
“If you went to a Trump rally, I doubt you would find more than a handful of hats that people actually bought during the campaign.
“If you look at photos of a Trump rally, you’ll see that every hat is different,” Cahn explained. “That’s not the way mass production works.”
Overall, Unionwear sells far more hats to Democrats than to Republicans: 90 percent of their orders come from the left and only 10 percent from the right.
A supporter of Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump looks on while wearing a MAGA hat
Even President Joe Biden has donned a Trump hat, clearly as a joke
Union workers sew Harris Walz hats together at the New Jersey factory
However, Made in America merchandise comes at a higher cost.
Cahn said the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and China’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) devastated American manufacturers.
“After NAFTA and then WTO, it became much cheaper to import products,” he told DailyMail.com. “And hats are a very high labor cost relative to the value of everything else.”
“So that was one of the first items to move completely overseas,” the business owner added. “It made it much easier to import products from China, and that really killed the domestic headwear industry.”
But consumers are increasingly appreciating the patriotic name, and “Made in America” is making a comeback.
Cahn says between 50 and 60 percent of the hats his shop makes are camo Harris Walz hats
“There’s definitely a growing interest in making American products, much more now than, say, a decade ago, and that’s only going to grow in the coming years,” he said.
Cahn hopes that the US hosting the World Cup in 2026 will boost sales of American products.
Two years later, in 2028, the Olympic Games will be held in Los Angeles, another potential boon for business.
When asked which candidate he supports, Cahn gave a politically astute answer.
“I think both candidates have a plan to help domestic manufacturing.
“I think the Harris plan will help domestic manufacturing workers more, while the Trump plan will help domestic manufacturing companies more,” he said. “Both will have a positive impact on us.”
But he added: “We’ll wait to see what happens on November 5 before we make our plans for next year.”