NORWALK — When the coronavirus pandemic hit and mask-wearing became not only routine, but state mandated, Norwalk native and fashion entrepreneur Devon Spencer saw an opportunity.
Not just a financial one, but one that allowed him to help keep others safe and comfortable.
Skilled with his hands and quick with his sewing machine, Spencer, 32, used resources on-hand to create a cloth mask with a removable flap covering a hole over the mouth, through which wearers can drink through a straw, smoke and snack.
Copyrighted as The Diverse Smokers Mask, but colloquially called the smokers mask, Spencer began fashioning the masks as early as April. He began giving and selling them to friends and family members looking for face coverings at a time when surgical masks were scarce and toilet paper scarcer.
“Nobody had material, shipping had stopped, and I was one of the few in Connecticut that kept everything going,” Spencer said.
Since developing the mask, Spencer has sold about 5,000 and given away around 500 masks, including 50 to Norwalk Hospital, he said.
“I know I was supposed to make money, but it wasn’t about that, it was about my product and being one of the few to keep everybody situated,” Spencer said. “It was more than just, there’s a situation going on let me take advantage of it. I was able to tap into the passion and reinvent something. I made it more promising.”
A key aspect of the smokers mask’s functionality is that users do not need to risk touching the inside of their masks while sipping a drink or taking a drag, Spencer said.
The washable masks come with removable filters and, since they can be sold in stores, are Food and Drug Administration approved, Spencer said.
After rapper and music producer Rick Ross shared the invention and began wearing the smokers mask, the mask’s popular ballooned.
A fashion designer by trade, Spencer’s clothing line website, EuroCurrensy.com, crashed due to the increase in site traffic and orders, an unexpected response he is still working to amend.
“The idea had the world going a little crazy once Rick Ross put it on,” Spencer said.
Most recently, Spencer has partnered with rapper Meek Mill for custom masks with Mill’s music label’s logo, he said.
However, Spencer still makes all masks himself, by hand, in his Trumbull home.
“That right there obviously pushed sales to a point where it’s getting to be a lot of pressure on me for manufacturing,” he added.
The product demand necessitated Spencer’s purchase of a 300-pound machine to create masks that have since been shipped around the country and world, including Chicago, Las Vegas and Germany, Spencer said.
Sewing start
After his mother underwent a series of medical emergencies, Spencer was unable to pursue college and or his budding Division I football career. He returned home to help support his mother and turned to sewing as a way to fill the void left by football.
Spencer began his clothing line, EuroCurrensy, in 2015 after learning to operate sewing machines and design clothes under the tutelage of Bridgeport-based tailor Hassiem Hassik.
Since its founding, the clothing line has gained a following consisting of Hollywood’s hip-hop A-listers including Ross, Mill and Cardi B.
With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Spencer said he realized the pandemic created a way for him to move beyond fashion design and make a positive, lasting impact on his community.
He also wants to set an example for his daughter Serenity, 12, a student at West Rocks Middle School.
“I want to build generational wealth,” he said. “No one in my family does any business or anything like that. It’s definitely something I know that’s going to put me and my family in a different position, let alone letting Connecticut know there is more safety.”
For Milford real estate agent Barbara Zink, the smokers mask is just the start of Spencer’s success.
Zink, who befriended Spencer two years ago while he was searching for an investment property, said she has purchased at least 10 smokers masks.
“I don’t like the run-of-the-mill black masks, and they all have different styles,” Zink said. “It’s safety with convenience.”
Individual masks are $35 and can be purchased at Www.EuroCurrensy.com.
abigail.brone@hearstmediact.com
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