ATLANTA — Liberator parent company LUVU Brands today announced that it is rebooting its operations to help combat the shortage of personal protective masks for hospitals, health care workers and consumers.
Louis Friedman, the company’s founder and CEO, hopes the company can produce 100,000 masks weekly.
“In response to the growing COVID-19 crisis, last week I directed my product design team to develop a medical face mask that we could produce in high-volume from readily available materials,” he said. “That mask is now in production and we are ramping up. They are made with a removable five-layer carbon-infused PM 2.5 filter insert, they fit closely over the face and are held in place by two adjustable elastic straps with a metal adjuster on the nose. They are intended for reuse and can be washed in hot water.”
According to the company, Friedman is currently in talks with both federal and municipal agencies to supply N95 masks that meet FDA standards; and soon the company will acquire approved filter materials and begin prototyping. In the meantime, the washable overlay masks are being produced. The masks are intended to extend the wearability of conventional N95 medical masks that are in short supply.
“We have a state-of-the-art facility for cutting fabric and producing sewn products,” Friedman said. “There are approximately 155 people who work in our 140,000 square-foot factory. They are all subject to daily body temperature checks and efforts have been made to move the machinery farther apart to maintain social distancing.”
The face masks will be offered for sale on Amazon and on AvanaComfort.com. Direct sales to private and governmental agencies will shortly follow.
