The hats are one of the most recognizable made-in-Michigan products, but the company says it needs other products to sustain business. It’s growth is an example of a U.P. company that’s adapting and staying relevant to younger consumers.
Paula Gardner
As Bridge Michigan's senior business reporter, Paula Gardner covers Michigan's business landscape, focusing on topics such as the auto industry, electric vehicles and economic development. She came to Bridge in 2020 after covering business and environment for MLive.com and previously served as editor of the Ann Arbor News and news director of the startup AnnArbor.com.
A metro Detroit native, Paula moved to Ann Arbor to attend the University of Michigan and has called it home for more than 25 years.
Posted inMichigan Government
Census 2020: Michigan has a few areas of growth, wide swaths of decline
Western Michigan and southeast suburbs are growing gangbusters, but Detroit, the U.P. and Thumb continue to lose residents. ‘It’s a trend that can’t continue,’ says one.
Posted inMichigan Government
Michigan recommends masks for businesses, as fears rise of fourth COVID wave
Two months after the state’s workplace safety regulators dropped most COVID-19 restrictions, they’re once “strongly’ encouraging masks but not mandating them.
Posted inBusiness Watch
Most Michigan restaurants cut hours this summer due to staff shortages
Customers are ready to spend, but the state’s hospitality businesses can’t operate at 100 percent, according to a new industry survey. They’re ‘leaving money on the table’ instead of rebuilding lost revenue.
Posted inBusiness Watch
West Michigan reverses Chicago exodus, gaining residents as state stagnates
For the first time in decades, Kent County is luring more residents from Chicago than it is losing. That helps explain why it’s one of few areas of Michigan that is gaining population.
Posted inBusiness Watch
Michigan buyers ask: Where are the cars? Microchip shortage decimates inventory.
Maintain the car you have, experts say. Production slowdowns are picking up this summer as the global microchip shortage keeps squeezing the auto industry.
Posted inBusiness Watch
From empty offices to housing? Michigan leaders support bill to fund shift
Cities statewide have sought to increase the number of people living in their downtowns. They see a new option now that empty office space is increasing due to the pandemic.
Posted inBusiness Watch
Michigan tourism needs foreign workers. Visa woes make hiring them tough
Federal H-2B visas make tourism possible for visitors in summer, business leaders say. But every year is a question mark about who will get workers and how many will be allowed. They say it’s time to solve that.
Posted inBusiness Watch
5 things to know about buying a house in Michigan in real estate 'crisis'
‘Try not to freak out,’ says one new homeowner who navigated the extreme lack of inventory and rapidly rising prices. Easier said than done.
Posted inBusiness Watch
Michigan unemployment benefits secure for those who ‘followed the rules’
The 648,000 Michigan residents who received federal pandemic relief benefits in error will not have to repay the funds if they applied in good faith. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said waivers will be awarded if payments were the state’s error.