01/26/2021
I have been crafting this post for a while but kept putting it off. I’ll wait till NYE, I’ll wait till this arbitrary marker, that number of masks made... but this seems like the fitting time: I just sold the last original Nekid Ladies mask. (Yeah, I still have the PG-13 version but my brain reads that differently. So hush.)
🖤
It was March 25, 2020 when I made the first mask I ever had made. I took fabric left over from when my friend Kirk was the head designer at Joe Boxer in the 90s. I had been hoarding it all these years. I had lost my jobs, my clients, and I sat down to just do *something*. I made and tweaked a mask pattern till it was exactly what I wanted. Then I took my ladies and I made this.
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Then the shortage happened and I started making them for nurses, volunteers, and then a friend said “You have no job. You are doing this thing. This thing is your job.” And it’s been hard. It’s been hard that the best selling Salt product was masks... but then I realized something important: all I ever wanted with Salt was to create something that was beautiful, useful, and made people feel the best version of themselves. A mask does that at the end of the day. People feel safer, more confident, pretty. From doctors to dog walkers... everyone has told me this makes a difference in their lives. Makes them believe they have stayed healthy.
🖤
I stopped counting at 2,000 masks. I don’t even know anymore how many I’ve made at this point. I still donate masks though not as much as I feel I should. But I also never thought that almost a year later I would still be at this. It’s slowed down for sure... but this is how I survive right now. Making sure people are safe. And sometimes that takes a mental toll.
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So thanks my apocalypse friendos. Thanks for wearing your masks and doing your part to try to stop this horrible pandemic. Thanks for supporting me and putting kibble in Hank’s bowl. Thanks for being there and telling me my apocalypse makeup was 🔥. We’re not done here unfortunately so let’s keep wearing our masks and supporting each other. Much love from the Salt Mine.
xoxo: amber & hank