Garment-makers shift production to satisfy demand for reusable cloth face masks

As a seamstress who usually makes sparkly spandex-laced music festival attire, Nina Jones never thought one day she would aid in the fight against a global pandemic. 

But recently, the same purple tiger-print material Jones uses to make leggings has gone toward sewing dozens of face masks instead. 

"People kept telling me that I should do it," she said from her Vancouver studio, where she has been working full-time to fill a growing number of face mask orders from her page, Sweetass Designs, on the American e-commerce site Etsy.

"I sort of listed a couple of [masks] like, 'Oh this little thing, people might enjoy it.' And they started buying it like crazy."

Jones says she was apprehensive about making face masks at first, but her interest grew as various health officials changed their message on their effectiveness in mitigating the spread of COVID-19. She felt she could be genuinely helpful. She also said that her masks keep people from buying the medical-grade protective equipment needed for health professionals. 

The World Health Organization maintains that healthy people don't need to wear face masks to protect against the novel coronavirus. But the U.S. Centre for Disease Control recently recommended people use cloth ones. It even goes so far as to offer instructions on how to make them. Canada soon followed suit. 

In B.C., provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry published a statement Friday addressing the public's questions around wearing cloth masks. She said medical masks should be saved for health-care professionals, but a cloth mask is a personal choice.

• Find Dr. Henry's full statement on masks here

In the past week Jones has had such a surge in demand for her face masks that she no longer needs to apply for government funding to weather the economic downturn. She charges $30 per mask, which includes the cost of materials and shipping, and can make about 40 of them per day.

A search for face masks on Etsy shows dozens of sellers like Jones offering reusable face masks that range from solid colours to colourful prints. A glance at product reviews hints that many sellers have shifted production so quickly that customers' ratings still refer to the bespoke stirrup covers, pencil cases and bath bombs the sellers used to make. 

On Etsy's main page, the company says it's protecting consumers by actively monitoring and taking down listings that make false claims about their products and the level of protection they offer against the coronovirus. 

Facebook, which has been criticized for spreading fake news, has placed an outright ban on any listings for face masks on its popular Marketplace section. 

Guinevere King, another Vancouver-based seamstress who recently started selling reusable cloth face masks on Etsy under the name Madame Guinevere, says she has gotten some pushback from people accusing her of profiteering from the pandemic. 

King and her business partner, who both normally work as seamstresses in the film industry, charge $20 to $25 for their masks, including shipping. King says she can make about 60 of them a day.

"What we've been saying to people is, 'yes, we are selling masks' but there is a demand," King said. "We're just trying to do our part and get as many masks out there on people as possible and keep as many people safe as we can."

King says she and her partner got started about three weeks ago when they donated masks for health care workers on Vancouver Island and in the U.S. She says the profit from sales will help her afford to make more donations. 

"We can't just straight up just donate everything that we have," she said.