Aloha!
Here's your behind the scenes news about our face mask production and improvements! If you've followed our original blog about our face masks, then you would have known just how arduous and crazy everything has been. If you haven't read through the blog, I recommend you do if you've got time and enjoy a thrillingly short read.
We started with a disposable surgeon style face mask and did our best to develop the highest level of protection possible. This is our 4 layer face mask. The biggest challenge was that nose bridge wire. We have spent countless hours finagling with the finer details, size, elastic length, number of pleats, number of layers, nose bridge wire choices, etc. 1 month of development later, we have not made much progress. It's still hand wash only and air dry. Why can't we develop an easy care solution? A washing machine's agitator and a dryer's tumble are just ideal environments to make any wire into an escape artist. We are experimenting with other wires, but so far no outstanding results. We will keep trying to make a 4 layer mask that can be machine washed.
The 3 layer mask on the other hand, we have made huge strides! Here's what we call the bias cut. Totally machine washable, adjustable elastic band, extra strong and resilient sewing, and did we mention the elastic band is adjustable? And guess what, the elastic band is adjustable! No more drooping masks or ear ripping bands. The caveat is that this mask is not reversible. Just the way it is sewn, there's a front and a back. To make this, we went through a lot of iterations, from changing the elastic bands to be soft/hard, long/short, stretchier/less stretchy, to changing the shape and dimensions of the mask. Doesn't seem like a huge undertaking, but it definitely takes time, thought, and testing, especially since it always comes down to the very fine details.
But even after all of our efforts, we know our masks are far from true universal fit, it is far from a perfect fit. Maybe it's lacking a small but critical tweak, or perhaps some parts of it are inherently flawed and there are better and more intelligent solutions. We got a lot of great suggestions and we even have a couple of new parts coming through Amazon. Which means it'll take weeks since we are in Hawaii and because this pandemic seriously slows the postal services. We will continue to innovate until we can innovate no more, please stick with us in our quest for the perfect face mask that also sports new and hawaiian prints!
If you have any suggestions on how to improve the mask, please write to us in the comments or email us your suggestions at service@ninthisle.com. Your insights are valuable and your perspective is probably very different from our perspective, which is critical for good development!
Take care and stay safe!!