The idea for Tecmask was born when the Scarf and her father travelled to Japan in 2012 and were puzzled by the boring designs of surgical facemasks regularly warn in Tokyo, the nation's fashion capital.
Three years on the company launched a series of masks with floral designs into the Japanese market, finally making these available to Australian and New Zealand consumers in 2018. Scarf won't reveal exactly how much stock remains in Tecmask's Australian warehouse, though the company is working through its last production run of stock.
The business is currently placing strict limits on what retailers including Priceline and Amcal Pharmacies can buy from it. Tecmask has previously manufactured stock in China but was researching other manufacturing locations for its future production runs just before coronavirus broke."Moving forward, we're exploring other manufacturing options," Scarf says.
Users must wash their hands before putting on the mask and avoid touching the front of them while in use, according to WHO guidance.
Great to see such success, even when the business owners know that their masks don’t provide the required protection.