It took me a while before I could get myself to start do what was most logical, to make face mask of all the off cuts that we gathered over the last years. I guess I was also a bit in shock, to experience my business in an sudden halt after being on such a roll to zero income almost overnight. But there were many requests and even more off cuts waiting for a new purpose. Off cuts from the thousands of hats, shweshwe notebooks and head bands sold.. ( we buy a few Kilometers of shweshwe per year!) There was just so much resistance, as I used to only make products that I love and I just could not get myself to love face masks..
But finally I got myself to it, with lots of help from Oliver and my kids as models, we do what we gotta do and if it is a face mask, we make face masks. But then not just any mask, a cool one, a happy one, one that is produced locally of locally made fabric (shweshwe is a 100% cotton that is produced in South Africa) offcuts ( zero waste), a perfect fit (some have a molable nosebridge to avoid steamy glasses) and a mask that also supports those in most need. Shweet donates 1 mask for every mask sold to the amazing Cape Town based organization Ladles of Love. And then I chatted to a fellow entrepreneur, one of the first supporters of our product, Sera Holland, who offered her offcuts as well (and donates and extra R10 per mask to Ladles of Love on top of our mask donations) , and now I can honestly say I LOVE our masks! Love the feedback of our clients and everyone has been so appreciative, our customers, the local seamstresses, Ladles of Love.. and personally it has been an absolute game changer to be back at work. I love it!