From rowing to face masks: How a company stayed afloat
RegattaSport has made a splash with its reusable face coverings
For custom athletic wear company RegattaSport, business is usually bustling from spring on as teams order uniforms for their events.
So when COVID-19 led to cancellations of everything on water and ground this year, the St. Catharines performance sportswear company had to act fast.
“Once COVID hit, business for us pretty much shut down because sports were pretty much the first thing to go,” said Chris Cookson, coowner of RegattaSport based on Queenston Street.
“So we were left in a situation of having to come up with doing some different things.”
The answer was producing a reusable face mask early in the pandemic and designing it so people actually wanted to wear it.
The result was so popular, that Rogers Communications purchased more than 100,000 for its employees across the country in its signature red colour.
RegattaSport shipped out the last of that order this week, something coowner Joe Camillo said helped keep the athletic wear company in business.
“It was a huge order,” he said. “We’re grateful.”
Camillo said the face masks were designed in April before most companies were making them.
They have a built-in nose piece, pleats and are made with head or ear straps and are manufactured in Hamilton by Camillo’s company Niko Apparel Systems.
Cookson said the masks have been sold to sports teams, clubs, business associations and other organizations, as well as individuals through their website. The Rogers order was the largest.
Rogers Communications spokesperson Gamiela Fereg said the company was looking for a supplier who was local, had quality materials and could pivot to meet their design and safety requirements in short time lines.
The masks were provided to Rogers employees across the company including media, retail, field technicians and others.
“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and it’s important now more than ever that we support them,” Fereg said in an emailed statement.
“We selected RegattaSport as one of our mask suppliers because they were able to provide quality masks for our employees, many of whom are working on the front line and directly supporting our customers.”
RegattaSport normally travels all over Canada to sporting events through the summer but that didn’t happen with COVID-19.
The company is also the official licensed merchandiser of the Niagara 2021 Canada Summer Games. Last month, it was announced the games will be postponed to 2022 due to the virus and rebranded for 2022.
Camillo said they fortunately don’t have a lot of 2021 inventory because they put production on hold in March when the pandemic hit. They would have been ramping up production this winter for the games themselves.
He said RegattaSport is working with the committee on new brand standards for the games for 2022.
“We’re so proud and excited to work with what is still the Niagara 2021 committee,” he said.
Cookson said RegattaSport is starting to see some signs of life again as some sports programs have started back up and are ordering some apparel. It’s slower than they are used to but they’re happy to be filling orders.
“You have to get creative when things like this happen. No one has ever experienced this ever in the world so it’s all new to all of us. We’re all trying to find our way through,” he said.
“We know things are going to come back, and when they come back there’s going to be a strong demand I’m sure, because people I’m sure are itching to get out and do activities again.”