Coronavirus pushes profits at fabric stores through the roof, as more people purchase material to make their own masks at home.
Beth Syrnyk is Marshals Fabrics’ store manager and she claims that summertime generally sees a fall in sales.
Sales have soared since the pandemic started, and keeping those materials in store has become a struggle as customers begin to queue up at the door.
“Our cotton prices have just exploded, and everyone in the world is now hunting for cotton,” Synryk said.
“And there was a period where we had a few vendors in the U.S. and the U.S. government agreed that they would not give us cotton.”
Synryk says that other manufacturers have stepped in to retain the cotton that is important because it is the number one source of material to produce masks at home.
She explains that as new cotton swaths come in, people buy them out and then it’s a waiting game for the next shipment to arrive.
“One of my key priorities is making people more involved in sewing, so COVID-19 wasn’t my idea of an perfect option to get them back to sewing but whatever works.”
“As soon as the pandemic hit I started to think like, im going to come up with a mask I feel will be comfortable, and people will feel comfortable wearing it,” said Greg Blagoev, a clothing designer in Winnipeg.
He’s one of many scooping up fabric to make masks.
Blagoev is using windproof and waterproof materials as well as other fabrics in his masks which retail for $40 each. Blagoev makes masks in four different sizes, cutting and sewing them together by hand.
“You know what we’re going through is something that’s not so easy to deal with day-to-day.”
Blagoev is selling his masks to people in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal and expects business to only grow as students return to school.
SOURCE: 660 NEWS
