FALL RIVER — It’s easy enough to miss if you’re driving by, but there’s a Fall River business on the fourth floor of a former mill building on Quarry Street that quietly and methodically manufactures formal dress coats and pants for the Chicago Police Department.

It also makes full dress uniforms for the New Bedford Police Department.

And that’s just scratching the surface.

Anchor Uniform Manufacturing is also “an approved manufacturer” of dress uniforms for the New York City Police Department — the difference in that case being that they instead are required to provide all materials and designs to a Manhattan manufacturer, which in turn stitches it all together.

In addition to police and fire departments, Anchor Uniform Manufacturing employs a staff of 40 that designs, cuts, stitches and fuses together men’s and ladies’ uniforms and associated apparel for commercial airlines; the U.S. Army; and the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The company, whose historical origins in Fall River can be traced back more than five decades, now finds itself in a somewhat unusual circumstance.

It occupies the entire top floor of a building at 451 Quarry St. owned by David Nguyen.

More:How this Fall River business owner went from Vietnamese refugee to successful entrepreneur

Nguyen owns and operates the US Bedding manufacturing company, which this year will relocate from the same Quarry Street building into the former Sam’s Club building adjacent Walmart on Quequechan Street.

Nguyen bought that vacant building last year for $5.25 million. He also has a 40 percent ownership share of Anchor Uniform Manufacturing LLC.

More:US Bedding owner: New site in Fall River Sam's Club could create 100 new jobs

His main concern at this point is moving his bedding manufacturing company into the former Sam’s Club site. Nguyen says if he can’t sell the Quarry Street building by the time that happens, Anchor Uniform will simply stay put until such time that he finds a buyer.

Once that happens, Nguyen says, Anchor Uniform will also relocate into the larger and more modern Sam’s Club building.

Anchor Uniform Manufacturing, like so many other businesses, was hit hard during the past year by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nguyen says business orders for departmental dress uniforms, trench coats, rainwear and high-visibility garments — known as Hi-Viz or Hi-Vis clothing — dropped by approximately 25 percent.

Tara Pavao, Anchor Uniform’s director of operations, says she’s optimistic that a long-anticipated five-year contract with the U.S. Army will soon be realized.

“It looks like it’s going to happen,” she said.

More:How Fall River, New Bedford businesses adapted for COVID — and which changes stuck

Pavao says Anchor Uniform is one of a number of subcontractors to an Ohio company that’s bidding on the contract.

If the Army approves the bid she said Anchor Uniform will begin to manufacture 500 Army dress jackets per week with a goal of increasing that to 600.

She says in order to accomplish that goal the company will need to hire more workers including at least five to 10 stitchers.

Pavao echoed a sentiment expressed by many other local business owners and managers during the past year, mainly that they’ve been frustrated in finding people who want to return to work, as opposed to continue collecting federally enhanced unemployment insurance payments.

“They say to themselves, ‘I can make more money staying at home.’ So it has been difficult trying to find people,” she said.

More:'Every business has to adjust': How higher minimum wage affects Fall River area companies, customers

Pavao’s aunt, Pamela Wade, is president of Anchor Uniform Manufacturing. Wade says the problem is compounded by the fact that the company’s workforce of mostly Portuguese, female immigrants has gradually declined as they age and eventually retire.

Wade says finding younger people who have the skill or desire to operate a sewing or stitching machine isn’t so easy: “That’s the problem,” she said.

The process of creating rugged yet attractive uniform jackets, pants and coats for men and women requires designing and creating patterns for individual body types; cutting, stitching and finishing the material; and fusing together different fabrics.

“People don’t realize when they put on a coat how much work goes into each move,” she said.

Wade notes that her pattern maker, Paul Miranda, has been has been doing his job for 43 years.

She says the Army contract is of key importance, because it will offset pandemic-related losses in certain order sectors, including commercial airline companies.

“The airlines were battered. We just recently finally got an order,” Wade said.

Pavao and Wade say they hope the so-called “defund the police” sentiment espoused by some social activists to divest funds away from police departments won’t lead to less police officers being hired and less law enforcement dress uniform orders being placed.

“It’s still a factor,” Wade said.

She also expressed some trepidation about the stance of President Biden and his administration regarding the southern border and the U.S. Border Patrol, which is still an Anchor Uniform customer.

“We have to wait and see. It’s a concern for us,” she said.

Pavao says 75 percent of the company’s revenue is generated from product created and produced in Fall River. The other 25 percent comes from uniforms manufactured in China and distributed by Anchor Uniform across the country and in Canada.

Anchor Uniform Manufacturing distributes its uniforms to retail stores in more than 30 states. The closest such store is Anna’s Uniform Supply in Somerset.

Nguyen says he became a founder and part owner of the company in 2010, after he worked out a deal with Capstone Headwaters, formerly known as Capstone Partners, which was the bank that had foreclosed on the forerunner of Anchor Uniform Manufacturing.

That forerunner was known as Whaling Manufacturing, which originally was known as Woodland & Lincoln Manufacturing.

Woodland & Lincoln was founded in Fall River in 1969 by Azorean immigrant brothers James and Joseph Pavao, who started a coat company inside the former mill building that still stands at the corner of County and Quarry streets.

They sold coats to the former Anderson Little Company in Fall River, Brooks Brothers, Macy’s, JCPenney and Lord & Taylor.

The Pavao brothers eventually became contractors for uniform companies providing outerwear for police and fire departments, airline companies and security companies.

By the 1990s they changed their name to Whaling Manufacturing. At one point they employed 750 workers in the building next to US Bedding where HealthFirst Family Care Center is now located, and where Bradlees department store used to do business.

Nguyen, who bought his mill building in 2006, says there used to be a tunnel connecting the two buildings to facilitate operations when business was still booming.

But with the pressure of cheap overseas labor, Whaling Manufacturing saw sales and profits plummet and began manufacturing uniforms to offset their losses in the fashion industry.

The company sought outside investment and brought in Nguyen and Joseph Pinto as partners to create Anchor Uniform Manufacturing.

Pinto, former head of Anchor’s sales division, owns 20 percent of the company. The late Joseph Pavao’s widow, Marjorie, who is Wade’s mother and Tara Pavao’s grandmother, owns 40 percent.

Pavao says she recently spoke with a producer of the Public Broadcasting Service TV show "Viewpoint" hosted by film actor Dennis Quaid about a future segment tentatively titled “Backing the Blue.”

The idea, Pavao says, is to “cast a positive light on police.”

Pavao said there’s a possibility that someone from the show will come to Fall River to do an in-person interview with Anchor Uniform Manufacturing.