Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, Condar’s experienced cut-and-sew department switched over to producing much-needed masks for St. Luke’s Hospital and people in need here in Polk County.

Their factory in Columbus uses colorful breathable fabrics. They have developed unique ways to make masks more functional and comfortable.

Designer Tiffany Blackburn explains “Comfort with elastic straps is improved, when we use sliding beads to fit sides to the ears. Everybody’s face is different, so making a mask comfortable encourages people to wear it.”

For folks who wear glasses, how to fit a mask over the nose is another challenge. Tiffany has designed a clever little metal piece inside the top of the Condar mask, so fabric fits securely over the nose, yet stays underneath the wearer’s eyeglasses.

In Tryon Arts and Crafts School’s competition Mask for Masses, Condar earned a weekly prize, citing this feature. “The fabric conforms to the face nicely, which is further secured by a wire nose bridge. Good for general on-the-go use by the public.”

Condar’s carefully-crafted face masks aren’t for sale. They’re donated, as they’re made, to non-profit entities that will make best use of them in the public interest. Needless to say, employees and families of Condar Company and Kangaroo Golf get first-dibs, too, benefiting from the factory’s production, to stay safe and well.

 

Submitted by Mike McCue,