Tracy Wear ‘24, a first-year majoring in Women and Gender Studies and Sociology, has a small business making masks. They first began to sell them when they realised that some of their friends were having trouble finding masks at the store or online, and offered to make them for two dollars? at the time. After posting to Instagram that they would make masks for people if needed, Wear received far more orders, and moved from giving their masks out for free to close friends and family to charging the standard price of five dollars a mask. Their masks are based on the CDC recommended tutorial, usually following the typical 6*9 adult mask measurements for the masks. Wear mentions that if someone has a particularly small face, they do their best to accommodate that, as they make all masks to order.
“I loved buying masks from Tracy. Their creativeness has really shown on campus. I wear their masks to almost all my in-person classes because they are so comfortable. This pandemic has been really hard but it is really inspiring when people like Tracy turn it around and make it into something positive for them,” said Dessie Bell-Kamen ‘24.
“Tracy’s mask business is awesome and I’d definitely recommend buying one (or two, or three)! They make masks that are extremely comfortable with super cute designs. Support their small business and get some stylish masks in return,” said Alexandra Crowthers ‘24.
“Almost all my mask fabrics are from recycled old fabrics like from quilt scraps and fabric that I’ve collected over the years at yard sales and church fabric markets, I occasionally buy a new fabric from Joanns if it’s really cute or on sale or if I’m getting a lot of requests for a certain fabric pattern such as my cow print fabric. All my masks are a cotton front with a double fleece cotton lining, and are machine washable,” said Wear.
Orders can be placed through Wear’s instagram, @tracymwear, where they do all their sales and advertising. Most masks are $5, with occasional sales on seasonal or limited fabrics. Wear does not price their masks at more than $5, in an attempt to keep the masks accessible to everyone and not too expensive.