Jonathan Baker prepared a shipment of completed masks at eqpd’s TwispWorks facility.
Twisp manufacturer switches from bags to protective masks
Weeks before his business, eqpd, was shut down under the statewide “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order, Jonathan Baker was laying the groundwork to convert his small manufacturing operation from producing sturdy tote bags to making protective face masks.
As the coronavirus was spreading around the world and the first cases were reported in Washington state, Baker was following news in the fabric industry, where manufacturers were being overwhelmed by orders for material to make protective masks that are in critically short supply.
“I saw the trend in the manufacturing world. That was my canary-in-the-coal-mine moment. I thought, ‘Whoa! We’re all going to need this. Every one of us is going to need one of these,’” Baker said this week.
“That was about six weeks ago — in this day and age, that was forever ago,” Baker said. “My wife said, ‘You might want to look into making masks.’” Then the first cases of COVID-19 — the disease caused by the coronavirus — were reported in Washington, and hospitals around the country began pleading for donations of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment).
“I saw the whole world start making their own masks and I said, ‘We need to help.’ I was able to find and secure materials. I maxed out my credit card to get it all. I thought, ‘I’ll worry about it later,’” Baker said.
“As an experienced product designer with a team of talented sewers, I knew we could help address the critical shortage,” Baker said. In the three weeks since eqpd (pronounced “equipped”) was closed as a non-essential business under state orders, Baker has made the transition from manufacturing the company’s trademark LastBag to making cloth masks.
His goal is to produce 10,000 masks in the next month. The first shipments of masks went out on Monday (April 13). About 100 went to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and 200 went to the Polyclinic in Seattle, Baker said.
Making such a fast turnaround has required a number of pieces to fall into place. One of the critical pieces is a GoFundMe campaign to pay for materials and wages of eqpd sewers. Launched less than two weeks ago, the campaign had raised more than $24,000 as of Tuesday (April 14).
Jonathan Baker and his eqpd staff are producing protective masks in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
The mask-making effort also has support from a group of local volunteer sewers who recently organized as “Methow Valley PPE” to make masks. The group is receiving mask kits produced by eqpd for completion at home. And Baker received a contribution of fabric from a local business — The Quilting Hive — that enabled him to begin work on 1,000 masks, while waiting for delayed shipments of fabric to arrive.
Research mode
When Baker recognized the soaring demand for protective masks in early March, he said, “I went directly into research mode, reaching out to our local health care workers, assessing specific requirements, studying pattern design, finding suppliers, engaging my team. We agreed it was imperative that we step up to address the looming mask shortage.”
That was before he had any clue that his business would be shut down by state orders designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus. In the days after his business closed, Baker said, “I was like a deer in the headlights. I had just ordered thousands of dollars of material and my business had just shut down. I couldn’t sell bags to pay for the material or pay my employees.”
He talked about his predicament with Don Linnertz, executive director of TwispWorks, and Meg Donohue, owner of Blue Star Coffee Roasters. They were enthusiastic about his plan to make and donate masks, and together they came up with the idea of a GoFundMe campaign to support the initiative.
The GoFundMe campaign was launched on March 31 to pay for supplies and allow Baker and his team of sewers to produce masks and offer them for free. Each mask will cost about $2.50 to make, so a $10 donation provides about four masks, Baker said.
Baker learned two weeks ago that his initial order of fabric for masks “was delayed in Missouri,” 10 days behind scheduled delivery, and “I had this whole team of people waiting” to begin sewing. That’s when Heather Rivard of The Quilting Hive in Twisp offered to provide him fabric she had in stock.
“She donated at cost close to 1,000 masks worth of material. Because of her, we were able to get started last week building kits for volunteers,” Baker said.
Finding material
Baker plans to make 2,500 kits with pre-cut fabric and elastic that will be distributed to local home sewers for completion. Another 7,500 will be produced by eqpd. As of this week, four sewers on eqpd’s staff — who had been laid off — are working at home on their own machines, and two more will begin work from home next week, Baker said.
Simply obtaining the cotton or cotton/polyester fabrics and elastic to make masks has become problematic, Baker said. “That material was disappearing from the manufacturers. To give you an idea of what the world is doing, Levi Strauss, the Gap, Nordstrom — all are making PPE. China is making two million masks a day. They’re taking up all the materials.”
The first mask kits went out to local volunteer sewers last week, and Baker expects his full delivery of material to arrive by the end of this week. He has converted his industrial sewing machines, which normally work on heavy plastic and vinyl materials, to sew the lightweight cotton fabric masks. He hopes to be able to begin working at the TwispWorks facility again before long.
“Our machines are overbuilt for doing this kind of thing. It’s like driving an F-250 to the grocery store. It works but you don’t need it,” Baker said.
The GoFundMe campaign identifies local and regional partners that will receive donations of masks. They include emergency and medical services, hospitals and clinics, law enforcement agencies, schools, social service organizations, and nursing homes. Baker said the list of partners keeps growing, and masks will be provided to a variety of agencies and businesses in response to requests. “Okanogan County Emergency Management just asked for 1,300 masks,” he said.
Eqpd is focusing on producing “Type 1” cotton reusable masks with a three-pleat design and elastic attachments. Baker has plans to expand the types of masks he makes to include his “own version” of non-woven single-use masks, and N95 (high filtration) masks, and is waiting for those materials to arrive. “I’ve ordered materials for all three and now it’s a game — what shows up? I’m a product designer by trade. Give designers a problem, and they want to solve it.”
Baker’s “incredible ingenuity makes it easy for eqpd to pivot to meet emerging demands,” said Linnertz of TwispWorks. “Having [eqpd] on the TwispWorks campus making PPE masks is the perfect response to the current, urgent need.”
For information on the GoFundMe campaign, go to http://www.gofundme.com/f/Help-us-make-10000-masks-for-healthcare-workers.
