Designer face masks are going for US$200 a pop online

Designer face masks have been around for at least a decade, a niche market catering to the chronically sick along with frequenters of Burning Man and fashionistas in Beijing. Now, amid the coronavirus pandemic, they are a coveted accessory for wealthy people around the globe. And for others, they’re a new symbol of inequality at a time when protective equipment for medical workers is in woefully short supply.

Airinum and other popular makers of trendy masks, including Cambridge Mask and Vogmask, typically sell products in an assortment of colours and sizes and tout advanced air filtration and memory foam fitting for the wearer’s nose. Unlike paper masks often used by health care professionals, these can be washed and reused.

The products are normally priced at US$12 for a basic black Cambridge mask or as much as US$69 for a pearl pink Airinum. But those two companies are out of stock until at least next month. Airinums have sold for more than US$200 apiece on eBay in the last week and Vogmasks for about US$150 on average.

In the eyes of government officials, though, they are still masks. San Francisco-based Vogmask manufactures all of its products in South Korea, which enacted an export ban this month on medical masks. Wendover Brown, the company’s co-founder, said 80,000 finished and packaged products are waiting in a warehouse near Incheon, unable to pass through customs. “The product is just sitting there, not helping anyone,” Brown said. Vogmask is now exploring options to manufacture in the US.