Update: Our Safety at NI And Our Safety Measures

Aloha!
We hope that everyone has been safe and healthy. With all the crazy that has been going on, we hope that you can find some comfort in knowing how we protect you and all of our customers as well as ourselves.
We are always doing common sense checks to ensure that we are doing right, from the very start of the production and even after it arrives at your doorstep. Obvious precautions like wearing a face mask during the entire production from spreading out the fabric, all the way through the final stitches. How do we keep wearing these masks 8+ hours a day without having some crazy skin problems?
The secret is 3-fold.
Secret 1: We have the luxury of taking breaks often, about once every hour or two as needed. Plenty of time to wash hands and keep hydrated.
Secret 2: When we wear masks, we always have some supportive headgear. Either the face mask hat or the scrub hat, we latch the elastics to the durable buttons instead of our very soft ears. Otherwise, we would only be able to work as long as our ears can last, maybe 4 hours a day?
Secret 3: Lots of skin care! We are lucky enough to have time to moisturize, wash, just the ability to really take care of our skin during work hours. So many of our healthcare workers and essential workers don't have this time to be putting lotion and washing up.
What about returns? While no returns for face masks or bandanas are acceptable for sanitary reasons, we are accepting returns and exchanges for clothing. To ensure that everyone is safe, we wait a minimum of 5 days before opening packages. Why 5? We rely on the awesome medical organizations like the CDC, Mayo Clinic, and WebMD for reliable and up-to-date information. We refer to the WebMD chart for materials:
https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200401/coronavirus-on-fabric-what-you-should-know
Any package may contain fabrics, plastics, papers, etc. Are we a bit too cautious with the 5 day rule? Possibly, but over-caution for a few returns is worth keeping everyone else safe. If you had your return/exchange/refund delayed, we thank you for giving us extra time to process, your patience is contributing to everyone's safety.
Wondering if there have been any covid interactions? We are extremely fortunate that none of our partners or staff have anyone in personal connections who has been exposed to covid. Fingers crossed and knocking on wood.
What else are we doing? We are asking each and every person, who comes in contact with anything that goes out to you, to practice every possible precaution recommended for daily life. The basics, social distance, going out as little as possible, washing hands often with soap, avoid touching the face, and be cautious and distant from those who are not practicing these safety precautions.
Safety is important to each of us and we know that this is truly a marathon instead of a sprint.
Are there other practices that you want to ask us about? Leave us a comment! Suggestions are great, you'd be looking after us at Ninth Isle and everyone we come in contact with.
Thanks, Ninth! This is really helpful!
Nancy on