Bob Hsin is clear about the importance of face masks in the COVID era. “Without them, a young person can get infected and be totally fine. But he might infect his parents, grandparents, and strangers.” Hsin has rapidly reoriented his Westford, Massachusetts business, Advanced Biomedical Materials (AVBM), to produce masks made of virus-killing materials.

Hsin began his career as a chemist, a former faculty member at UMass Lowell and later joining a UCLA spinoff company. During his time in California, Hsin became familiar with start-up culture. He founded AVBM a few years later. “I felt like I should do something more useful than publishing papers,” Hsin said.

Before COVID-19, AVBM manufactured non-heavy metal, long-lasting antimicrobial fabrics. As the pandemic shifted priorities, Hsin saw a market for a new antiviral product. AVBM’s novel antiviral fabric boasts long-term effectiveness, killing 92% of viruses after 20 washes. AVBM sells its masks and proprietary fabrics to other manufacturers. Hsin is participating in the Massachusetts COVID Intrapreneur Challenge to accelerate his goal to manufacture antiviral face masks in Massachusetts.

Hsin is eager to get masks to those who need them most. “If everyone listens to Dr. Fauci and works together, we’ll be able to get through this a lot easier.”

This was the question that Aurelie Steere confronted as she began negotiating the COVID-19 crisis. Before the pandemic, her Boston-based company, Cabagg, made reusable shopping bags that carry up to 25 pounds, a fact Steere says has surprised many cashiers.

As coronavirus began to change consumer behavior, Steere began making face masks. But when she sewed her first mask, she had no business aspirations. Her objective “was just to help friends and family.” To find customers, Steere simply asked, “who needs a mask, and who needs it now?”

Soon, Steere realized that masks were in high demand across Boston. Her first masks scored rave reviews from friends and family members, prompting her to expand production using Cabagg’s sewing machines and supplies. Before long, Steere’s vibrant masks could be seen in several Boston neighborhoods.

Local and social consciousness are integral to Cabagg. Before COVID struck, Steere created her standout bags with the Center of Hope, a foundation that provides resources and working opportunities to disabled individuals. This May, Cabagg donated $2000 from the sale of face masks to Boston Cares, New England’s largest volunteer agency.

Cabagg’s innovative and philanthropic work is far from complete. Steere is considering partnering with a few charitable organizations so that customers can “pick a charity at checkout and know their contribution would go directly there.” Even though the pandemic has necessitated a radical change in her business model, Steere is committed to Cabagg’s pre-COVID values of performing social good and creating high quality products.

Charles River Apparel, based in Sharon, Massachusetts, makes promotional apparel like branded fleeces, vests, and polos. Known nationally for its products, the company is known locally for charitable work in the community.

When COVID-19 struck, Charles River quickly adapted its capabilities to help source 50,000 face masks to donate to Boston health organizations. At one point, the company even cut up its own products to use for mask-making.

Charles River Apparel’s designer believed that consumers, especially women, want stylish masks that gave them the confidence they needed when going back to work. VP of Marketing Tracy Lehnen’s 14-year-old daughter helped affirm that their mask designs were on the right track when she proclaimed that if she had to wear a mask at school, she needed “something cute”!

As the pandemic wears on, Charles River will focus on masks for the business environment. “We know that there’s going to be a continued need for masks. We want to be part of it. We want to be part of keeping people safe and keeping people healthy,” Lehnen said.

Charles River Apparel’s commitment to philanthropy began 14 years ago when CEO Barry Lipsett lost a sister to breast cancer. He created Be Pink Proud, an initiative that sent 5% of all revenue from pinkCharles River products to cancer research. In 2010 the company launched Charles River Cares, a new charitable division. Charles River Cares is now an integral component of the company’s operations.

“In-kind donations, to monetary donations, giving employees time off to volunteer, it’s a really big part of what we do,” says Lehnen.

Contollo began in April 2020 as a “crazy” plan to supply hospitals with PPE amidst COVID shortages. CEO Peter Berzin explains that Norb Jankowski, a former engineer at a Franklin, Mass. die-cutting facility, formed the idea that became Contollo. Although the factory had been shuttered for years, Jankowski suspected the cutting machines were still present and could be repurposed to make PPE.

Jankowski contacted Franklin town council member Tom Mercer and Massachusetts State Representative Jeff Roy. With their help, Berzin and Jankowski determined that the die-cutting machines were functional, the factory was empty, and that its owners were willing to lease. Production began a few weeks later.

Contollo creates PPE gowns for medical institutions. Staff developed an innovative two-seam gown design, a new heat-sealing station method, and a material layering pattern. These advancements have allowed Contollo to produce 100,000 gowns per week, each with a four-use lifespan The company also makes disposable gowns that meet all FDA testing guidelines. The cost savings associated with Contollo gowns helped the company secure several large contracts. Contollo has also donated more than a thousand gowns to local hospitals and fire departments.

Berzin has even bigger plans for Contollo. With automation and further innovation, his goal is to produce 60,000 gowns per machine per day. He plans to repair the plant’s second die-cutter, expand operations into a new Franklin facility, and fabricate new PPE products such as face shields, respirators, and masks. Berzin plans to create “the safest, most comfortable, lowest-cost mask in the United States,” using only U.S. materials.

Despite its brief tenure in Franklin, Contollo has become deeply rooted in the town. Berzin said that the Franklin community “nurtured Contollo with relationships, feeding us support and encouragement.” In turn, Contollo’s growth will mean more jobs for Franklin residents.

Despite living in Pennsylvania, Berzin commutes to Franklin each week. He said that his friends think he’s nuts, but he bears little regret. “In PA, You don’t get the level of encouragement and energy coming from the town of Franklin.”

Eileen Steward says she’s never faced a problem she couldn’t solve. Latest on her list of solutions: face masks designed for young children.

Clothing has always been special for Steward. The youngest of seven sisters, she says “I was always a hand-me-down girl.” When she was old enough to buy her own outfits, she would imagine how she might improve their designs. These days, Steward has turned that passion into a career. She sells her boutique designs through her company, Eileen Steward Clothing.

When COVID-19 slammed Massachusetts, Steward saw another problem to solve: PPE for children. A friend with an autistic child asked if she could make wearing face masks less scary for kids. Looking to childhood dress-up games for inspiration, Steward and her sisters created masks that resemble iconic animals, complete with ears, snouts, and whiskers! The product even features a washable shield for added protection. She calls her creations “Pandanimals.” “The kids become superheroes,” Steward says. “They’ll protect their grandmas from cooties!”

Besides the PPE, Steward and her sisters plan to illustrate superhero story books that will come with each Pandanimal, explaining how wearing masks can protect others. She says, “it’s all about empowering the kids. We’ve got to make something that makes them feel strong.”

Industrial Polymers and Chemicals is a 50 employee company that specializes in making fiberglass reinforcement products for abrasives. Today they are making personal protective equipment to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Early in the pandemic, IPAC Chief Technical Officer Thomas Kennedy fielded a call on behalf of a leading Boston hospital “asking for some help”. Kennedy and CEO Susan Dacey quickly determined they could adapt IPAC’s cutting capabilities to help fill the need for hospital gowns. Soon the IPAC staff “were cutting things to beat the band,” Kennedy said. “We had four shifts running.”

Kennedy has pushed IPAC full steam ahead into the gown industry. They make over 40,000 gowns a week, with plans to double their capacity with a new cutting machine. The gowns, plus IPAC’s contracts with customers who supply body armor, allowed the company to remain fully operational throughout the pandemic. We tell our employees “not only is this a wonderful opportunity for us to get into a new area, but we’re saving lives by doing this work as well.”

IPAC has designs to expand into the mask business. The company has developed an innovative mask style made from a unique material. Planning to do all assembly in-house, IPAC has filed a provisional patent for their mask process and design. IPAC’s masks will be made primarily for schoolchildren and manufacturing personnel. “How do you tell a 5-year-old or a 10-year-old to wear a mask all day,” Kennedy asks about reusable face covering products. The product will be biodegradable, environmentally safe, and most importantly, low cost enough for school districts to purchase for their students.

In the end, Kennedy can only tout the importance of US-based industry. He credits the Dacey family for keeping the company in Worcester, fending off offers to move overseas. But the job isn’t easy. “IPAC does blood and guts manufacturing. The US needs to realize that it needs to add to its manufacturing base. Without that base, we can’t respond to things. Want PPE? Well, you’ll have to wait two months for it to ship from overseas.”

In the face of COVID-19 pandemic, LympheDIVAS has become a mask maker.

LympheDIVAs cuts its masks from the same fabric as its popular compression sleeves, which feature eye-catching prints and patterns. According to Josh Levin, LympheDIVAs’ CEO, the switch was easy. “Masks are similar to compression sleeves; you have to wear them, but no one wants to. So we made face masks more comfortable and more attractive to wear.”

LympheDIVAs’ unique name derives from lymphedema. Lymphedema causes arm swelling, a common side effect of breast cancer therapy. Patients rely on compression sleeves to treat the swelling. As its name implies, LympheDIVAs makes high fashion, high performance sleeves that help patients dress like divas.

LympheDIVAs’ face mask designs draw heavily from their other products. They feature two layers of the same moisture wicking fabric as the company’s sleeves. The masks share the sleeves’ distinctive bright coloration. LympheDIVAs’ elastics loop around the back of the head, rather than behind the ears.

Philanthropy is also important to LympheDIVAs. Currently, 25% of profits from certain sleeves go to cancer-fighting charities. Levin said “It’s important to donate like this, as a part of the lymphedema world.”

National Fiber Technology started mask making in response to a call from a local hospital. “They asked us to switch our production facility into one that could make masks,” said Kim Clark, owner of National Fiber Technology. National Fiber was making masks three days later.

This head-spinning pivot was possible because National Fiber was able to quickly source materials because of its status in the textile world. “Masks were a natural shift for us,” Clark explains. “Our expertise with sewing, production, and construction all fit with changing over to making masks.”

Clark and her partner Fred Fehrmann bought National Fiber in the early 2000s and quickly pushed it towards industry-leader status. National Fiber specializes in producing fur-fabrics and costuming for the entertainment industry. According to Clark, “if it’s got fur on it, it’s probably our character.” Chewbacca from Star Wars is perhaps the most famous character who wears National Fiber’s fur.

The switch to masks has allowed National Fiber to stay open. In April, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker ordered all non-essential businesses to close. Companies making fur-fabric were not deemed essential, but companies making masks were. National Fiber’s pivot to mask-making allowed the company to keep its full employee roster at work throughout the pandemic. Clark says that working during this tough time has been a boon for company leadership. “We had a really solid team before, but I think this mask making has bonded our team even stronger. We have better communication in our fur fabric area than we had before.”

Even in the midst of COVID-19, National Fiber has not forgotten its community commitments. National Fiber has collaborated with Debbie’s Treasure Chest, a local non-profit organization that aids and supports disadvantaged families. Debbie’s, founded in 2007 by two adopted children, distributes National Fiber’s masks and other items to groups and individuals in need of virus protection. “So many people have lost their jobs; they need clothing and toiletries and school supplies,” Clark explained. “We’ve been able to help them.”

Before the pandemic, South Coast Design Studio altered women’s and men’s special occasion clothing. With most formal events canceled or postponed, Sue Chouinard, the studio’s owner, recognized the opportunity to pivot her operation in support of the PPE shortage. After learning about the state’s face mask mandate, a solution became clear; she’d produce masks at South Coast Design Studio.

South Coast Design is well-positioned for mask-making. Chouinard’s experience in the apparel industry stretches back many years, starting with a bachelor’s in textile technology from UMASS Dartmouth. She went on to earn degrees in fashion design, buying, and merchandising from the world-renowned Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. After gaining experience in the apparel & leather industries, Chouinard opened South Coast Design Studio. She is now regarded as a designer-innovator with a knack for creating new products.

For Chouinard, mask-making responds to numerous needs. For example, she is conscious of her own safety as a tailor. “Fitting clothes is a close-touch activity,” Chouinard said. “I don’t feel it is an ideal situation to safely & fully re-open just yet.” More important is the need for professionally designed, high quality, and well-fitting masks.

She views her mask making efforts as a public service. Early in the coronavirus pandemic, she saw a need for masks and worked to address local shortages. In the first 2 weeks of social distancing, she designed and produced mask covers to extend the lifetime of the hard-to-find N-95 masks. Soon after, she joined forces with a local network of home sewists, fielding requests from medical facilities from across the region.

As the demand for well-fitting non-medical masks grows ever higher as employees return to work, Chouinard seeks to expand her customer base and production capacity. She entered Lever’s COVID Intrapreneur Challenge to accelerate that expansion. In the process, she plans to generate new jobs for the South Coast, hiring displaced apparel workers who have professional sewing machines at home.

“The South Coast of Massachusetts was once the center of the American textile industry, and even though some of that economic activity has since shifted overseas, much of the expertise and skill still remains here,” Chouinard said. “So why shouldn’t the South Coast lead the charge for high quality mask production? It’s in our DNA!”

Speakeasy Travel Supply is a woman-owned business based in eastern Massachusetts. Since 2013, they’ve been making quality goods for curious people, including the original Secret Pocket Travel Scarf, which has received rave reviews from Conde Nast Traveler, USA Today, Women’s Day, the Travel Channel, CNN and more.

Like many companies in the travel space, Speakeasy was hit hard by the pandemic. Bethany Salvon, a professional travel photographer and Speakeasy’s founder and CEO, explained that her company was able to “pivot really fast because we’re entirely family-run and everything is produced in-house.”

In February, Salvon started making cotton face masks for the medical community after hearing about a lack of PPE at hospitals and care facilities. Since then, she started selling them publicly to support her Buy One Mask – Give One Mask initiative. To date, she has donated more than 1,000 masks to frontline organizations, including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Mass General Hospital, and has no plans of stopping anytime soon.

Speakeasy Face Masks are mindfully made on Cape Cod from soft, breathable OEKO-TEX® cotton and feature options for a metal nose wire and filter pocket. The masks are available for adults and kids, alike, and have scored rave reviews from customers. “I love these face masks,” Rebekah Vacca said. “They are comfortable and look great. Plus, I like that they are reversible with different patterns so I can match them with my outfits.”

The Fashion Makerspace at UMass Lowell’s Innovation Hub (iHub) helps to pioneer next-generation smart clothing and textiles. Its mission is to encourage and increase apparel manufacturing and job growth in the commonwealth by contributing to the fashion and textile ecosystem through support for innovation, advanced manufacturing and workforce development. The iHub and Fashion Makerspace support entrepreneurs in the Merrimack Valley and beyond.

Already long time collaborators, the pandemic presented the iHub and Fashion Makerspace with an unexpected opportunity to build on their synergies to make cloth face coverings. With materials and equipment on-site, the team ramped up production quickly. By July, the operation distributed over 5,000 handmade cloth face coverings.

Even this well-resourced group faced pandemic-related challenges. When elastic supplies dried up in April, Fashion Makerspace director Diana Coluntino experimented with a variety of strap materials, eventually settling on shoelaces for maximum reusability.

Today, the group’s face covering operation is split into donation and commercial divisions. The university’s community relations office coordinates the work of volunteer home sewists and delivers free face coverings to those in need. The commercial division uses a work-from-home industry model for its workers. Coluntino says that “part of the reason we appreciate participating in Lever’s COVID Intrapreneur Challenge is that it’s helping us expand our commercial initiative. We’ll have a broader capacity to pay people.”

Tom O’Donnell, Senior Director of Innovation Initiatives at UMass Lowell and Director of the iHub, appreciates the opportunity to participate in the COVID Intrapreneur Challenge. “This Challenge’s community of potential partners to help accelerate this initiative has an enormous amount of value,” he said. O’Donnell sees building on his group’s experience in the Challenge as a template for future enterprises. He even thinks that the iHub can use its face covering response as a business model template for the future, where UMass Lowell students could “grab these opportunities and spin them out” into independent, Lowell-area ventures.

Coluntino has other business designs. She sees this initiative as part of a larger push to bring back cottage industries to the Lowell region, normalizing take-home piecework as a valid employment practice. Coluntino thinks the idea can bring jobs back to the United States and contribute to Lowell’s creative community and economic prosperity for the region.