*Candy Whitehurst spent 43 years helping put the U.S. Navy Blue Angels in their distinctive blue-and-yellow ceremonial flight suits. Now the owner of Pensacola’s Black-owned Sewing Box says that decades-long relationship has ended after the Navy awarded the work to another company — and she says nobody told her the contract was up for grabs.
“I would have never ever thought that my Blues would treat me like this,” Whitehurst told WEAR-TV. “Not in a million years.”
The loss is especially painful because the Blue Angels were the shop’s biggest customer. Whitehurst told WEAR she and her staff had produced thousands of uniforms over the years, handling the cutting, sewing, fittings and rush alterations required by the Navy’s elite flight demonstration squadron.
But the story is more complicated than a longtime contractor simply being pushed aside. Federal records show the Navy opened the work to competition, and Whitehurst says she didn’t realize that process was underway.
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The New Contract Is Worth Up to $1.69 Million
The Navy awarded Virginia-based Aquila International LLC a five-year contract with a maximum potential value of $1,691,506.40, according to the official SAM.gov contract notice.
That figure represents the contract ceiling, not guaranteed spending.
Under the agreement, Aquila is responsible for manufacturing, altering and repairing the Blue Angels’ specialized ceremonial flight suits, including fittings at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida and Naval Air Facility El Centro in California.
The company isn’t completely new to the Blue Angels. Aquila principal and managing member Todd Kelsey told WEAR-TV that his company has supplied the squadron with items including flight gloves, compression garments and physical-training gear since 2024.
Kelsey said Aquila learned about the uniform opportunity through SAM.gov and attended a Navy “Industry Day” in February designed to attract potential manufacturers.
Whitehurst says she knew nothing about that event.
Whitehurst Says the Usual Call Never Came
That gap is at the center of her frustration.
“Before they always announced to me, Miss Candy, do you want the contract?” Whitehurst told WEAR. “You need to put your bid in. This year, I didn’t hear from no one. No one called me.”
That does not, by itself, establish that the Navy violated contracting rules.
The Sewing Box had received sole-source contracts in recent years, including a nearly $127,000 one-year award in 2025, according to WEAR. Opening the work to competition changed the environment Whitehurst had grown accustomed to.
Aquila says it won the bid without special connections. Kelsey also said the uniforms will be manufactured domestically and that his company is open to using local subcontractors.
That leaves one possible path for Whitehurst to remain involved — although she would no longer hold the prime Navy contract.
A Congressman Is Now Asking the Navy to Step In
The story has moved beyond disappointment at a Pensacola sewing shop.
Florida Rep. Jimmy Patronis sent a letter to the Navy asking whether The Sewing Box could work with Aquila as a subcontractor, WEAR reported. Patronis also requested a meeting aimed at helping Whitehurst pursue future Navy contracting opportunities.
The Navy had not publicly answered WEAR’s questions about why it changed contractors or whether The Sewing Box was invited to the Industry Day in the reporting reviewed for this story.
The contract itself permits Aquila to subcontract portions of the work, but any decision to bring in Whitehurst’s shop would belong to Aquila, not the Navy.
Four Decades Didn’t Guarantee the Next Contract
That may be the hardest part of Whitehurst’s story.
For decades, her small business had something few companies ever achieve: a working relationship with one of the most recognizable military teams in America. She says she would work through the night when the Blue Angels needed emergency alterations.
But longevity didn’t guarantee another award once the Navy sought new competition.
There is no verified evidence that Aquila improperly obtained the contract or that Whitehurst was entitled to another one. What remains is the human question raised by the way the transition happened: after 43 years of service, should a small longtime contractor have received clearer notice that the competition had changed?
For Whitehurst, the answer appears obvious. The flight suits weren’t just another order. After thousands of uniforms and four decades, she still calls the Blue Angels “my Blues.”
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