That popular Chicago flag mask? It’s on clearance.
Company that pivoted to make it has gone back to producing band uniforms
The company behind the ubiquitous Chicago flag mask had already decided to wrap up its online retail mask sales when federal health officials dropped a bombshell.
Vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks in most settings.
Sales of masks at PrideMasks.com, the retail site set up by R&S Marching Arts, had been declining since a few months into the COVID-19 pandemic, President Alan Spaeth said. Mask-making was a crowded field by the middle of last summer, and sales were down by the time vaccinations began in January, which in turn depressed demand significantly, he said.
But when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased its mask guidance earlier this month, it was like a switch had been flipped.
“Literally the next day there were no orders,” Spaeth said. “It was almost overnight, which tells you people are ready to be done with the mask-wearing.”
Like many small companies, R&S Marching Arts was forced to get creative early in the pandemic as its regular business — making marching band uniforms, parade costumes, banners and flags — dried up.
With personal protective equipment for health care workers in short supply, R&S Marching Arts sought to ease demand for clinical masks by making cloth face coverings for first responders and the public. Since the company already had relationships with materials manufacturers in Thailand, it was able to pivot quickly, Spaeth said.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot gave the business a boost when she began wearing a PrideMasks face covering featuring the red stars and blue stripes of the city’s flag, an early example of a mask being used to make a
political or fashion statement. (In the mayor’s case, the statement was “stay home.”)
The PrideMasks inventory grew to include everything from a line of face coverings designed by Chicago artist David Lee Csicsko to American flag neck gaiters to masks supporting political candidates. One bearing the word ByeDon supports President Joe Biden while simultaneously bidding adieu to his predecessor.
Mask making has since become an industry unto itself. Just last month, 26 small manufacturers formed the American Mask Manufacturers Association with the aim of eliminating dependence on foreignmade clinical masks.
On May 11, the group released a letter to President Joe Biden saying sales of low-cost masks from China were undercutting U.S. manufacturers, leaving them with a surplus of 260 million U.S.-made masks and threatening to knock more than half of their production offline within 60 days.
While the need for clinical masks in health care settings continues, Spaeth noted many people have an ample supply of reusable cloth masks at home. But the company is still taking orders from corporate clients looking to provide masks for employees returning to the office, or marching band programs where students still need to be masked.
Masks made up the entirety of the company’s sales during a hectic few months last summer, but have since dropped to 5% as the marching band business increases, especially from out-of-state clients. While high school football was postponed in Illinois last fall, kids were still playing halftime shows under the lights on Friday nights in Texas.
“Our regular business is really looking promising, so we’re very optimistic about the future,” Spaeth said.
“But the mask business saved us.”
The Calgary Stampede, an annual rodeo in Alberta, Canada, and the company’s first order to cancel when the pandemic began, is back on for July, and Spaeth is looking forward to supplying a full slate of parades, festivals and musical performances in the months ahead.
“We’ve regained all of our past customers and everybody wants to get back to giving their kids full experiences, so we feel like we’re going to be back on track,” he said.
As for the Chicago flag mask, it’s on clearance: Buy five and get 80% off, along with the rest of the PrideMasks inventory.