Masks, medical-grade gowns and other personal protective equipment (PPE) are in high demand, and more home textiles companies are responding.
The number of industry players pivoting their operations to produce these and other related goods and donate funds and products toward efforts to curb COVID-19’s spread continues to grow.
Natco Home is the second major home textiles company – with Mohawk Home – to partner with Fabric Source International to make medical-grade gowns for working medical professionals. At its Dalton, Ga.-based facility, the company’s “sewing machines normally used to serge area rugs have been converted so they can now be used to sew the fabric to make the gowns,” explained SVP Mark Ferullo.
These items are being distributed to local hospitals as well as Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital.
Allied Home’s basic bedding factory in Los Angeles is now producing a new allergen barrier cotton face mask. Designed with two layers of allergen blocking and 233-count cotton, the reusable masks add a protective layer from dust and other airborne irritants. Allied has initiated a special give back program; for every mask purchased, it will donate one to a facility in need.
Upstairs dorm décor designer LeighDeux has adjusted operations with its partner mill in North Carolina to make masks that are not medical grade but designed with a pocket to accommodate a medical-grade mask in the center, founder Leigh Goodwyn explained to HTT.
“I am donating 100% of the profits to the First Responders Children’s Foundation,” she said. “Masks have been very difficult to get, but ours ship within three to five days of order.”
Also available for sale on its website, LeighDeux’s masks are priced at $12 each and come in the four colorways of its popular Tanzania animal print pattern as well as the whimsical Lips design and the Indigo Shibori print.”
Since launching the mask line via social media on April 3rd, LeighDeux has sold 4,100+ masks and generated more than $50,000 in sales. “And orders continue to roll in by the hour.”
Several major fabric design houses are also participating in the effort.
Tulsa, OK-based Fabricut is making masks in house as well as providing fabric to Wesley Hall Furniture – the latter of which has recruited a dedicated crew to make several hundred N95 mask covers for use by the medical staffs at various hospitals in New York, Michigan and California.
Fabricut’s samples department team – typically busy making memos, showroom sample displays and other product sampling – recently shifted its focus to mask production. They’ve come up with two versions, both entirely made of fabric – a reversible style made of Fabricut fabric; and a medical-grade style (solid-colored in blue or pink) made from fabric provided by local medical centers.
Zoffany, home to brands Morris & Co. and Harlequin, among others – is providing fabric to various workrooms and designers making masks. These include: Primo Interiors and Tres Joli Drapery Workroom, both in Illinois; and Meghan De Maria in Connecticut.
Additionally, Pollack Fabrics has also donated fabric for masks.
Lithuania-based luxury linens house LinenMe is not selling masks. But, as founder Inga Lukauskiene explained to customers in a special email about the business’s operations amid COVID-19, her company will include a free all-linen face mask to each order placed “during these stormy times.”
She added: “We are not selling them and they are not available on our online shop. And be aware, they don’t replace the medical masks. But as we’ve been advised by the experts, they are definitely better than nothing in protecting others – especially if you have a cough or sneeze. They are reusable if you wash them at 90 degrees and iron.”
In closing, she said: “Stay optimistic. All storms are over one day and the sun will shine!”
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Cecile B. Corral is a senior editor with Home Textiles Today and is editor of luxury textiles supplement POSH. She also covers the area rug category for Furniture Today and Home Accents Today.
