BLAKELY, Pa. — Last week, Governor Wolf encouraged everyone to wear masks in public.
A t-shirt company in Lackawanna County has started making masks instead of shirts during the pandemic and has already donated or sold thousands of them.
Talk Shirty to Me in Blakely, shifted its production quickly from shirts to face masks.
"With this pandemic and crisis going on, we had to cut down our production, and it really brought us down to a slow. So, we said, 'hey, let's turn t-shirts into masks and start helping out the masses as we can.' This is our way of stepping up and helping out," said owner Ron Augelli.
Augelli said his staff has been hand sewing masks for a few weeks, and they've donated them to healthcare facilities throughout Lackawanna County.
Then, Governor Wolf asked the general public to wear fabric masks.
Talk Shirty teamed up with suppliers to design an adjustable mask that can be made without human contact.
They went on sale online this weekend. Talk Shirty has already sold about 5,000 of them.
"The masks are microbial, up to 25 washes. They're made of a material that is made for sports apparel. So, basically, the way that they are made up, you can wash them up to 25 times. We can't guarantee it's going to stop a virus, but it's something, some kind of protection," Augelli added.
Talk Shirty is selling the masks at cost. They won't profit from the effort.
Augelli said his, like many other businesses, is taking a hit right now.
But they're staying busy.
"The best thing to do is get online, check out our links, shop, help local businesses, and protect yourself. That's all we can do, and get through it," he added.
The Talk Shirty masks take about 10 days to ship because of the demand.