COVID-19: Tailors Make Money from Face Masks

By Sunday Ogundiran

COVID-9, the nation’s albatross has turned cash cow to the members of the Nigeria Union of Tailors or just anybody who can cut and sew.

Echonews investigations reveal that an average local tailor makes between N500 and N1000 per day by making face masks for the people within his community, selling at the average rate of N100 per piece of mask.

While some tailors sell below N100, others sell above the average price depending on the quality and style of the masks.

But don’t make the mistake that the business is for the low class tailors alone. Brand managers are succumbing to pressures of fashion designers and uniform sewing companies urging them to brand face masks for their staff.

Their pressure, according to sources, is gaining some traction as image handlers of companies imagine how the riot of colours of face masks of various colours and shapes could mar the aesthetics of the working environment when workers eventually resume.

Another attraction is that the below the line item is relatively cheaper than other items and can be produced locally.

The trigger for this business was pulled by the decision of the Lagos State government to make wearing of face masks compulsory in Lagos State as part of the measures to ease the lockdown of the state to manage public complaints over the economy.

Some fashion designers are already taking contracts from companies and organisations, to produce customized face masks for their staffs and customers.

Tailoring thus followed catering as one of the thriving businesses during the coronavirus pandemic as many of the entrepreneurs continue to make more money through the production of face masks.

Face mask has become the most purchased item used as protective kit against contracting the deadly coronavirus.

The government’s order on the compulsory use of face masks by every citizen has given employment to the tailors at a time when the families are reeling under the impact of outbreak of coronavirus and the resultant lockdown.

The government has warned that any person caught without wearing the face mask would be prosecuted. This has forced many residents to look for the product at any availability.

Since the pronouncement of this order, many local fashion designers have swung into action, producing the face masks in large quantity, selling at retail prices to the millions of residents on mandatory use.

In Oshodi-Isolo, the fashion entrepreneurs have not been lagging behind in leveraging on the business opportunity, using different materials to produce different styles of face masks.

Some of them deplore personal direct sales of the item, referrals and partnership with traders who sell on highways for its mass production.

The fashion entrepreneurs who spoke to ECHONEWS said apart from the income making aspect of the business, it is also a patriotic call they have decided to answer in order to curb the spread of the virus in Oshodi-Isolo LGA and the state at large.

One of the tailors, Taiwo Biliaminu, a male fashion designer around Edagbeja axis of Ejigbo told ECHONEWS that he makes at least N1000 a day from selling the protective product at N100 per one.

This, according to him, is in addition to what he makes from sewing normal clothes to his customers, noting that why the sale is not forthcoming from regular sewing, the income from the face mask has been constant as people keep demanding the item on daily basis.

His words: “Aside this means, those who have been selling the foreign nose covers before the go ahead for the locally made ones have been coming to partner with me as they’ve seen that the locally made ones are embraced and selling fast.

“This boosted my morale to produce in large quantity and bargain on 20 per cent return of my profit to those who want to help me sell as I sell at cheaper rate of N100 to those who are buying in bulk of 20-50 pieces and they sell at their own preferred prices.

“I equally produce customized ones for some business organizations who prefer to have a uniformed well sewn face masks for their staff members with their business names and logos inscribed on the masks.”

Iya Anjola who also keyed into the business opportunity said her children do the selling by hawking the masks around, adding that some people also refer other customers to her shop.

Apart from being a protective material, face mask has also turned to be a new fashion trend among Nigerians as they now make their masks out of the fabrics such as ankara to match their attires.

Though medical experts said the homemade face masks may not be effective in preventing coronavirus, Nigerians have resorted to the locally made ones due to shortage of the imported surgical masks.

With a giant asterisk, of course, even medical-grade coverage is not guaranteed to stop the novel coronavirus. But while the effectiveness of homemade masks is unproven, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they are better than none in last-resort situations, which is why tailors around the world are stitching substitutes in the face of a global shortage.

The medical authorities also support the locally made face masks because the rush for the medical face mask by citizens following the outbreak of COVID-19 made the masks scarce and expensive thus affecting the cost and ease of surgical operations.

By diverting the public to the non-medical face masks, the tailors have helped to avoid the crisis of supply that was looming in the health sector.