Masks — Sold Out
Mask makers are buying out fabric faster than stores can restock.
With the U.S facing the largest medical mask shortage in recent history, housebound Texans have picked the market clean of cotton fabric and elastic bands in hopes of making protective face masks for themselves. Within the last nine weeks, stores across the state have been selling out of materials faster than manufactures can hope to restock.
Shelves at stores like Walmart and Michael's have been borderline barren of cotton material since the Houston quarantine began, and completely emptied out of everything elastic since.
This has led to people waiting weeks for their orders to come in, while others brave the public in lines that stretch around the corner to enter stores that still have supplies. The doorman at Jo-Anne’s said people sometimes have to stand outside the regulated doors for at least two hours before they can enter.
“I ordered a couple yards of fabric and elastic two weeks ago, and the tracking says they’re not going to come in for another week,” said mask-maker Maria Chavez.“ It’s really frustrating. I wish I’d bought it before the virus hit the US.”
The empty shelves resulted from the influx of mask-makers springing up all over the US. With the Federal Reserve reported to be running low on supplies, and hospitals pleading with the public to stop buying medical masks in bulk, people stuck at home began to buy supplies in mass to make their own masks.
Within weeks stores were picked clean, and now supply seekers have been left to scavenge the chain brands’ websites for whatever scraps are left.
“I usually buy my fabric from Hobby Lobby, but everything’s gone. I signed up for the email list so I could get notified when this pattern I wanted was online, but when I got it, they were already sold out again. And trying to buy elastic is like trying to buy a unicorn. It’s unreal.” said 17-year old Sharon Williams.
Employees said they were shocked at the floods of people that started coming in once COVID-19 hit the US.
“I’ve worked at Walmart for seven years, and I almost can’t leave the fabric table. It’s like, constant cutting fabric….the cotton is totally gone,”said fabric department employee Patricia Laughlin.
“People were already buying cotton fabric before the virus hit Houston, but since the rodeo closed people have been coming in like it’s the end of the world.”
Laughlin said that supplies are often sold before they even hit the shelves.
“Everyone’s been trying to avoid coming inside, so they buy it online. Fabric is getting redirected to the online sales, so getting material into our department is getting harder. Whatever does manage to get here gets sold within hours.”
A trend that’s caught on in this sudden vacuum are the online shops that have sprouted up on merchant sites like Facebook and Etsy, with sellers offering masks and various lengths of fabric for arguably elevated prices.
While chain stores like Jo-Anne’s sell a yard of fabric for six to 14 dollars, online shops are selling the same yards for 17 to 24.
Honey store owner Alma Johnson said she’s kept afloat by buying fabric in bulk and reselling it on Etsy, along with ready-made masks and other supplies.
“A lot of people have lost their jobs. My store hasn’t sold a bottle of honey in weeks, and the mask stuff are the main thing people want. If I have to make and sell a mask to keep myself afloat, that’s what I’m going to do,” said Johnson. “My prices are a bit higher because I have to keep buying the supplies, and supplies aren’t cheap. Just doing business.”
Despite the slow turn over that has left the public scavenging for supplies, there is hope.
Mask makers like Chavez have taken it upon themselves to make sturdy masks for their communities with the supplies they’ve manages to gather for little to no charge. She created masks for both her neighborhood and her daughters co-workers in an effort to fill the supply gap.
“We can’t give them medical masks, we don’t have them. But we can offer what we have to make what we can. Someone’s gotta look out for them,” said Chavez. “I’m not in it for the money. I just want to help.”
