NEWARK — Activity buzzed inside a nondescript, one-story manufacturing building near Newark’s Branch Brook Park.

Workers from Unionwear carefully cut zippers to length for royal blue gym bags emblazoned with a block-lettered "Made in Newark" logo on the side. Others focused on embroidery machines, guiding threads in red, orange and yellow patterns that spelled out "Go Newark Hoop Fest" on baseball caps.

The NCAA basketball tournament starts in earnest today, with 16 games being played in eight cities throughout the country. Next Thursday, the Prudential Center in Newark will host the tournament’s East Regional. If the seedings hold true, players and fans from the University of North Carolina, Ohio State, Syracuse and the University of Kentucky will descend on the city. Now being made for them are the hats, bags and other goods that will be worn and sold during the event, produced as part of a new initiative designed to bring attention to the city’s manufacturing industry...

Click here for full article >>