In Q4, a PPAI study found that 43 percent of supplier sales and 77 percent of distributor sales were in decorated PPE. Many of the companies that were able to keep employees on the payroll were those whose product lines allowed them to step into personal protective equipment (PPE), including face masks, face shields and gowns, and hand sanitizer. Surprisingly, 35 percent reported no changes in staffing for those six months. Likewise, in the first half of 2020, PPAI research showed that 25 percent of companies on both sides of the industry had to lay off employees, 16 percent had to reduce work hours, 15 percent had to furlough employees and nine percent considered changes to staffing levels. Eight percent reported decreased sales of 20-40 percent. For distributors, 12 percent saw sales decrease by up to 20 percent compared to the previous quarter. By the fourth quarter of last year, 20 percent of suppliers reported that sales decreased by up to 20 percent compared to the third quarter and 15 percent reported decreases of 20-40 percent.
In the second quarter of 2020, suppliers and distributors reported sales down 78 percent compared to the same quarter in 2019, according to PPAI research. In time, as other suppliers began offering masks and Chinese sources lowered their order minimums, Toddy Gear’s sales leveled off, but the strategy to quickly pivot to manufacturing a dye sublimated mask (an improved version with three layers, a nose bridge and adjustable ear loops eventually replaced the original model) created a momentum that kept the company humming along and people employed during a year when the industry definitely struggled. “We got a few COVID cases,” Gabel says, “but we had protocols in place and sent people home immediately. The company also conducted temperature and blood oxygen checks of everybody upon arrival at the factory. To keep workers safe, they found a local company that sold plexiglass and built workstations to separate those working on the factory floor. Toddy Gear went from a company with one shift to three shifts working 24 hours a day. “It was all hands on deck and the salespeople worked as a team,” he says. There were so many orders coming in that the company began pooling sales commissions. “I was driving to the United Center every other day with 5,000 masks to fill that order. Among the early orders was one for the City of Chicago for 30,000 masks. He also bought new equipment including a high-end laser cutter and more sewing machines. Gabel brought back all furloughed employees and hired about workers to keep up with the orders. Before long, the company had a two-month back order. As demand for masks swelled, their initial capacity of about 2,000 masks a day grew to about 16,000 a day. “At 8:05, we started getting orders,” he says, and the phone kept ringing. Kooistra and her team designed the campaign, and emails were sent to customers on Monday morning at 8 am. That was on a Friday and Gabel asked Kooistra to put together a guerilla marketing campaign over the weekend because, starting Monday, Toddy Gear was going to be selling masks. “She said ‘Let’s give it a shot,’” Gabel recalls, so they took a piece of microfiber and bought some elastic at a nearby fabric store. Gabel says, “We called one of the sewers who had been furloughed and asked, ‘Do you think we can make a mask?’” While those cut-and-sew operations had been outsourced to Mexico a few years back, the company still had sewing machines packed away. The company had been founded on the production of a dual-sided microfiber cleaning cloth for phones, computer screens and eyewear, so it had employed people to cut and sew the cloths, and it had equipment. The two then met with Viktorya Kooistra, the supplier’s director of marketing and communication, at their suburban warehouse to discuss an idea. The next day Gabel and company president Jason Emery announced to their team of about 25 that they were being furloughed until further notice.
Todd Gabel, founder and CEO of Chicago, Illinois-based supplier Toddy Gear, was watching the news one fateful day in March 2020 when the governor of Illinois announced the state was shutting down to prevent the spread of COVID-19. A year ago, as the coronavirus pandemic wrought major changes in lives and businesses around the world, companies on both sides of the industry doubled down to meet customers’ needs and creatively reimagined how best to retool their teams and operations.
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