Newark shop boasts yarmulkes made with union labor

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/112708/njWhyIsThisKippa.html

Why is this kipa different from all other kipot?

by Johanna Ginsberg
NJJN Staff Writer

November 27, 2008

Is your kipa kosher? If it was made in Mitch Cahn’s Unionwear shop in Newark, it is. If it was made somewhere else, according to the Progressive Jewish Alliance, the chances are slim.

Of course, it all depends on your definition of kosher.

The PJA, a California organization founded 10 years ago to respond to the issue of sweatshop labor, launched its “Kosher Kippot” campaign in 2007 to encourage the purchase of union-made and fair-trade yarmulkes.


Mitch Cahn of Montclair at his Newark company, Unionwear, one of the few union shops left in the country that produces baseball caps. His line of yarmulkes are part of the Kosher Kippot campaign launched in 2007 by the Progressive Jewish Alliance that encourages people to buy fair trade and sweatshop-free kipot.

Photo courtesy Mitch Cahn


In addition to Cahn’s kipot, PJA also steers people to woven kipot from Guatemala (www.mayaworks.org) and fabric kipot from South Africa (www.globalgoodspartners.org).

“Jewish law and ethical standards should apply when we’re buying a T-shirt or a kipa, the same as obeying the laws of kashrut while we are eating,” said Sarah Leiber Church, a PJA program director. “I would like it to be as unacceptable in the Jewish community to buy a sweatshop-made kipa as it is to eat a pepperoni pizza.”

The Kosher Kippot effort followed the successful PJA Kosher Clothing campaign, which urged people to avoid purchasing sweatshop-produced T-shirts and other clothing.

But T-shirts are one thing; kipot another. Where exactly can you buy a kosher kipa?

FULL story at link.