New York Embroidery Studio (NYES), a women-owned leader in textile-based manufacturing, rapidly launched its PPE Division during the COVID-19 pandemic to meet national demand for protective equipment. Since then, the division has grown into a semi-automated, Brooklyn-based facility producing surgical gowns, masks, and face shields at scale. NYES recently secured a 3-year government contract to support the U.S. PPE stockpile and is now poised to further evolve.

With this foundational contract in place, NYES must now strategize for long-term growth and sustainability beyond government reliance. As domestic PPE demand stabilizes and global supply chains reorient, the firm seeks to reduce dependency on public sector contracts and expand into private, adjacent, or underserved markets. At the same time, NYES is completing a transition to full automation and ISO 13485 compliance by August 2025, further increasing its operational capabilities and quality assurance standing.

The challenge is to leverage NYES’s automated production technologies, internal testing lab, and flexible infrastructure to identify sustainable business models and growth pathways. This requires analysis of customer segments, new product possibilities, go-to-market strategies, and investment planning to maintain NYES’s competitive advantage while staying true to its mission of high-quality, U.S.-based manufacturing.

This project invites students to shape a future-facing business plan that builds on NYES’s strengths while proposing new market opportunities, partnerships, and operational strategies for the next chapter of its PPE division.