In June, Counselor asked the promotional products industry to share the most creative and interesting imprinted masks and other personal protective equipment they’ve worked on since the coronavirus pandemic started. The Decorated PPE Challenge had more than 50 entries, all of which were impressive in their own right. ASI writers and editors narrowed the field to 10 finalists, then opened the voting up to our readers, through an online poll.

[From left] Michelle Wilson, inside sales rep at Canada Sportswear; Ron Brownstein, general manager of Canada Sportswear

The winner, by a wide margin, was Toronto-based supplier Canada Sportswear (asi/43682). The company received more than 2,600 votes for the lighthearted masks it designed for a children’s ward of a Halifax hospital. In this episode of Promo Insiders, Theresa Hegel, executive editor of digital content, speaks with Michelle Wilson and Ron Brownstein of Canada Sportswear about how their winning entry came together and why PPE is here for the foreseeable future.

Podcast Chapters
1:40: Canada Sportswear’s winning idea
4:16: Advice for other promo companies
6:41: How long will PPE be an important product category for promo?

Canada Sportswear was approached by a distributor to make fun masks for a children’s ward. The supplier’s design team came up with several concepts that would be appropriate for children, things like smiley faces and stick figures, according to Wilson. The hospital placed an order for all eight designs through its distributor, and the masks proved popular enough that the hospital was back in touch soon after to place another order. Canada Sportswear made more than 900,000 masks for the hospital.

The children’s masks are just one of many PPE orders the supplier has done since the start of the pandemic. Canada Sportswear was deemed essential because of its work on uniforms for front-line workers, so never had to pause operations. The supplier has made and sourced three-ply masks, isolation gowns and more for clients. Brownstein and Wilson don’t expect the need for PPE to go away anytime soon, with masks being a part of everyday life for at least another year. “It started to slow down, then the provinces mandated the use of masks in public areas, and it just exploded again,” Brownstein says.