Made in the UP: Stormy Kromer - UpperMichigansSource.com

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This is part one of a two-part series showing some of the products made in Upper Michigan.

IRONWOOD, Mich. (WLUC) - Stitch by stitch, a U.P. staple makes its products right here in Upper Michigan.

At its factory in Ironwood, the president of the U.P. company, Gina Thorsen, starts explaining to me how the original Stormy Kromer cap is made; all entirely by hand.

Watch part of the process in the video above.

While the 100 Stormy Kromer employees are assisted by machines at times, most work is done by hand.

“They are surprised that often it looks like home sewing,” said Gina Thorsen, Stormy Kromer President. “We do, obviously, have some specialty machines, but the basic machines are sewing a straight stitch like someone might do at home.”

It’s a step-by-step process that takes about 17 minutes. About 600 caps are made every day. All in preparation of a seasonal rush.

“We calculate how many hats we think we need for the year and then we break it up into, ‘That means we need this many per day.’ So it really is a lot of building earlier in the year, putting them on the shelf, and then waiting for the fall for these order to come in,” said Thorsen.

Thorsen says one-quarter of Stormy Kromer’s yearly sales come in December alone. During the pandemic, the company saw a surge of online sales during a national move to the outdoors.

“The overall trend of people doing things outdoors,” said Thorsen. “You could feel safe doing outdoor activities with your family. In particular, hunting, we could not keep blaze orange on the shelf last year.”

Thorsen says she is seeing that trend continue into this year. During the pandemic, the company has had some challenges getting its fabric to the U.P.

“We’ve had a decent time getting the factories and the mills to produce the fabric, our challenge has been getting it here,” said Thorsen. “That’s where some of the delays have really come in with freight taking up to twice as long then it normally would.”

While Thorsen says delays have happened, production has been able to operate normally so far.

Thorsen says costumers often ask about different colors and fabrics that aren’t being made. She explains that every yard of fabric makes seven hats. When Stormy Kromer’s orders fabric, they have to order it a thousand yards at time, or 7,000 hats.

“We do overall trend research,” said Thorsen. “What our competitors are doing, what color trends are, to really be careful about the colors we select because otherwise we are going to have 7,000 hats on the shelf not being purchased if we aren’t careful about choosing the right things.”

Stormy Kromer is looking to hire right now as it prepares for its busiest season and to keep up with an expanding business.

Thorsen says Stormy Kromer will be in more retail stores, across the country this year including REI stores in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

A lot of hard work, and pride, put into a product made right here in the U.P.

Watch more of the process in the video above.

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Made in the UP: Stormy Kromer - UpperMichigansSource.com
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