Fabric Companies Pivot With Entertainment Industry Response

With the rise of COVID-19, masks have become an essential item within one's wardrobe. Multiple fabric companies within the entertainment design industry have changed their businesses in response.

Cancelled performances and live events has put Sew What? Inc.'s custom stage curtains and drapery production on hold. Megan Duckett, CEO and founder of Sew What? Inc., quickly pivoted the business to produce personal, non-medical grade masks. She has also innovated a new line of Ear-Saver products, including beanies and baseball hats, that combat the fatigue caused by wearing masks straps for long periods of time. Check out Sew What?'s personal protection equipment.

Gallagher Staging—one of the founding members of Entertainment Industry Response, or EIR, which is a collective of entertainment professionals and businesses with resources, supplies, and crew to aid local governments in the fight against the novel coronavirus—is now also collaborating with Sew What? and created a face shield to work with the Ear-Saver system.

Watch the interview with Spectrum News 1, and get a behind the scenes look at the production.

Rose Brand, another EIR partner, is also utilizing its fabrics to make face masks. Instead of taping lighting and fabric, the company's gaffer's tape is used to outline social distance spacing in stores. Its theatrical banners have been transformed into messages of hope—and a national call to action. A 140' banner promoting the message, "Join the resistance. Keep your distance." dominates Rose Brand's Secaucus, New Jersey parking lot.

Distance is Resistance, a new organization recently launched by Rose Brand, sells masks, T-shirts, posters, and bumper stickers, branded with the banner's image to promote the rallying cry of its social distancing message. Twenty-five percent of sales goes to GlobalGiving's Coronavirus Relief Fund to support frontline responders and those most vulnerable to COVID-19. The remainder pays for the cost of the merchandise and helps to bring back Rose Brand's 400 employees, 90% of which have been furloughed.

Watch the PIX11 news coverage and drone footage of the banner below, and check out more coverage here.