At this time in history, it is easy to feel despair. Yet in the past few days, the American can-do spirit is kicking into high gear in response to shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical professionals and grocery store cashiers alike. A plethora of companies making outdoor gear here in the United States have quickly leveraged their supply chains, local manufacturing capacity and expertise, as well as their know how to jumpstart the production of face shields, surgical masks, gowns, etc. The snippets below showcase a handful of companies making it happen.
If you are aware of other companies making this pivot, please take two minutes and pass this information along here.
Western North Carolina
A group of companies who are all members of the Outdoor Gear Builders of Western North Carolina are cranking out a variety of PPE as quickly as they can. The sewing, engineering, material sourcing, and manufacturing expertise in this part of the country is being showcased in this hour of need.
Instead of dwelling on how COVID-19 is going to adversely impact their businesses, a group of companies have partnered together, “ramping up production with a goal of manufacturing 1,000,000 reusable, protective masks this month” (Industrynine.com).
At our disposal are 100+ CNC machines ready and available to assist in machining components for ventilators. Additionally, we’re looking for a large clean open space for production (~20k square feet). For any contacts or leads, please continue to share them with us at theeffort@industrynine.com.
The list of companies involved is as follows:
This article in the Asheville Citizen Times goes into more depth. It also highlights Tom Dempsey’s, Sylvan Sport’s President, very short journey from considering the adverse impacts of COVID-19 to his business, to a heroic pivot to procuring N95 face masks and deploying their campers as rapid deployable shelters outside health facilities. Moreover, they are now making a few thousand face shields per day “with 10,000 in production and another 10,000 following immediately” (Chavez 2020).
Other companies joining the fight in this neck of the woods include Tsuga and Diamond Brand Gear.
flowfold (Maine)
The advanced in-house factory and sewing expertise at flowfold has been reconfigured away from the production of bags and wallets to face shields for health care workers fighting the virus. As in Western North Carolina, the initial production runs are being sent to local or area hospitals and places of need. In this case, flowfold says their first order of Face Shields is going out to MaineHealth.
Given the shortage of PPE in hospitals across the country, we have suspended production of our usual line of bags, packs, and related travel and everyday accessories, and switched to the production of Face Shields, a crucial piece of equipment that keeps health care workers safe during prolonged face-to-face or close contact with potentially infectious patients. -flowfold
Check out more details here.
flowfold is also encouraging other local manufacturers interested in helping or sharing their resources here.
Melanzana (Colorado)
This company operates in the heart of Colorado’s high country, typically making their infamous “Mellies” along with hats, pants, etc. In response to the shortage of PPE, Melanzana pivoted to making surgical masks.
Quoting the companies Instagram post from March 28:
We’ve been working with a couple of area hospitals for the past five days to develop something that meets their needs. The masks are made with two layers of surgical wrap, and then sterilized and sealed in the hospital autoclave. They can be re-sterilized and re-worn several times. -Melanzana
As with the other amazing examples above, Melanzana will also only be distributing to their local partner. If you’re in the central mountains of Colorado, their request is as follows:
If you are a health institution with an autoclave, or an individual medical professional / emergency responder, please send your contact info and a photo of your credentials to us at info@melanzana.com
Venture Snowboards (Colorado)
Venture is a snowboard manufacturer in the high country of the San Juan Mountains just put together a quick protype of a face shield made with materials in their factory and parts sourced locally. Raw materials and tools will be arriving soon and larger scale production will commence.
Vermont Glove and Alpine Luddites (Vermont)
Vermont Glove has paused glove production to sew protective masks for frontline medical staff and community workers around the country. John at Alpine Luddites is using his design and sewing skills, usually directed at custom backpacks and bike packing bags to sewing on straps on hundreds of masks for Vermont Glove.
And the list goes on and on . . .
How Can I Help?
Right now, please spread the word about the PPE being produced by these companies. Those on the front lines in each part of the country need to know about these efforts and how to connect with these supplies, which will be ramping up every day.
If you are aware of other great companies that usually make outdoor gear here in America that have pivoted to making PPE or assisting in the response to COVID-19, please click here and we’ll help spread the word. The list above is absolutely not comprehensive.
Thank you to all who are helping!