When Tina Eaves suspected face masks might be needed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, she started making them at her downtown business, Alterations and Creations.
Eaves opened Alterations and Creations downtown almost twenty years ago, in August 2001. As a business dedicated to dry-cleaning, alterations and custom dressmaking, Eaves has turned to making face masks as a way to maintain business and keep the community safe.
“We haven’t been doing that much dry-cleaning so in order to keep my doors open I had to resort to something and what do I do? I sold,” Eaves said.
After her cousin in the medical field sent Eaves an N95 mask, asking her to recreate it, Eaves started to make them alter the design to fit over N95 masks as a way to support the medical workers during the shortage of personal protective equipment.
“N95s are not readily available and if you can keep it cleaner longer, you can have it longer. So that’s how I started (making face masks) by trying to help the healthcare workers,” Eaves said.
The mask made at Alterations and Creations have been designed to not only be worn over N95 masks, but also worn alone, making them usable by more than just essential workers. The masks were altered to work like N95 masks, along with altered features like a wire over the nose to stop the fogging of glasses and elastic that extends around the head rather than the ears. Eaves described these alterations to give the masks a great fit.
In addition to healthcare workers, Eaves believes that Alterations and Creations is also able to help the surrounding businesses and essential workers, describing that she has become “the source to get a mask.”
Ashley Harder, a real-estate developer, purchased a mask from Alterations and Creations when she assumed she would need one. While talking highly of the mask design, Harder focused on the simplicity of Eaves’ colors, the removable and washable filter, and the around-the-head elastic band.
Along with the style of the masks, Harder turned to Alterations and Creations to support a local business.
“I think it’s important to be supporting smaller local businesses right now. Masks are one way of doing that instead of buying it online through a Facebook link,” Harder said.
R.J. Price, the Chief Marketing Officer of Downtown Phoenix Inc., explained how Alterations and Creations joins other downtown Phoenix businesses in innovating ways to reach the market and stay open during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Providing such a wonderful, wonderful tangible thing to the public. I think that’s great,” Price said when discussing Eaves’ business. “I think it’s probably a model for what other people can try to do during this time”.
Price applauded the pivot of the business and explained how they still need support from the community.
“It’s incredibly important for the community to know just how small businesses are depending on them right now,” Price said.
Although Eaves’ business remains open for dry-cleaning and other services, Arizona’s stay-at-home order and social distancing has taken a toll on Alterations and Creations. The sales of masks, which customers have bought in both bulk and individual orders, have helped Eaves keep her business open.
By selling masks on top of her current business, Eaves has avoided the need to apply for government aid programs that help small businesses like her own.
“I didn’t have to take the stimulus package or anything to keep me going, my community kept me going,” Eaves said.
Contact the reporter at mbestrad@asu.edu.
