

Masks - Kai D. Utility

Apologies for the radio silence. It's been a stressful past two months for everyone, to say the least. As a physician and a first time expectant father coming this May, I have to admit I've been otherwise preoccupied, feeling very unprepared and overwhelmed with a lot of things outside of menswear lately. I tried to sit down and write a few times, but talking about new clothes just felt awkward for me and a little tone deaf given recent events and the sudden shift in perspective on our lives. By now, you've likely seen many articles about supporting local business, how to stay busy at home, etc. so I don't want to belabor those issues. One aspect of the current healthcare situation that overlaps with menswear however, at least a little, is masks. Apologies for the radio silence. It's been a stressful past two months for everyone, to say the least. As a physician and a first time expectant father coming this May, I have to admit I've been otherwise preoccupied, feeling very unprepared and overwhelmed with a lot of things outside of menswear lately. I tried to sit down and write a few times, but talking about new clothes just felt awkward for me and a little tone deaf given recent events and the sudden shift in perspective on our lives. By now, you've likely seen many articles about supporting local business, how to stay busy at home, etc. so I don't want to belabor those issues. One aspect of the current healthcare situation that overlaps with menswear however, at least a little, is masks.





know think as a healthcare professional, menswear enthusiast and lover of dope jawnz.



Photo - Littlefatyaa This topic is still under debate within the world of medicine and is therefore even more confusing for the everyday person. So I'm going to use this post to share a little bit about what Ithink as a healthcare professional, menswear enthusiast and lover of dope jawnz.

First - Do masks work? *Disclaimer* - I do not represent my health care system in any way in an official capacity. Any opinions expressed here are mine alone. I would also encourage anyone reading this to verify all information for yourself - and that extends to any news story, what your political party tells you to think, or any information that may affect your life or the lives of your loved ones. It's admittedly a bit dry in this section, so feel free to jump to the next if you're so inclined.





"Wearing a mask won't stop you from getting Coronavirus." I've seen some form of this statement recently parroted in the news with a stunning amount of unearned confidence. Even if there is a kernel of truth to it, it's still misleading. These days, the pivot of that story is now "a mask won't keep you from getting sick, but it can help you stop spread the virus to others." That iteration may be a little more right than the previous one, but it's still not great. A more accurate version would be, "Wearing a mask should reduce your risk of infecting others and may reduce the risk of becoming sick yourself." When the initial outbreak began, many were justifiably worried that we were ill prepared to adequately supply healthcare workers. With that in mind, somehow the story became simultaneously that masks would not protect you if you buy one, but we also need to save them for healthcare workers who would be protected by those same masks.



It's not so simple, though, unfortunately. There are very good data about hand-washing reducing the rate of infection for illnesses similar to COVID-19, which is why you don't see any news stories titled "Is Washing Your Hands Useless?" However, there is less certainty about the degree of risk reduction that surgical masks and homemade cloth masks bestow. There's also a lot of variability in the types of masks outside of those engineered to meet N95 criteria, which make it harder to make sweeping statements about them. So we end up putting a lot of smaller studies together and pooling heterogeneous data so we have more confidence that the results of those studies are meaningful (higher numbers = generally stronger data, certain types of studies are more robust than others). Even then, results are mixed, and It's not so simple, though, unfortunately. There are very good data about hand-washing reducing the rate of infection for illnesses similar to COVID-19, which is why you don't see any news stories titled "Is Washing Your Hands Useless?" However, there is less certainty about the degree of risk reduction that surgical masks and homemade cloth masks bestow. There's also a lot of variability in the types of masks outside of those engineered to meet N95 criteria, which make it harder to make sweeping statements about them. So we end up putting a lot of smaller studies together and pooling heterogeneous data so we have more confidence that the results of those studies are meaningful (higher numbers = generally stronger data, certain types of studies are more robust than others). Even then, results are mixed, and the data is on the weaker side that masks significantly reduce the rate of infection . Sometimes those studies showed a benefit with wearing surgical and cloth masks, sometimes not. You also might recall seeing stories about how countries that have implemented universal maskwear in the population also have generally lower rates of transmission, which seems to suggest that perhaps masks are helping drive that. But an association between two things does not necessarily mean that one thing is causing the other to happen (this is why prospective trials are better than retrospective studies). For example, those same countries also have a higher rate of rice consumption, but that doesn't mean eating rice reduces your risk of catching Coronavirus. We do have studies that show both cloth masks and surgical masks filter out particles of a certain size to different percentages , depending on materials/weave, distance, etc. Since the virus is primarily transmitted through droplets (larger particles) unless it is aerosolized (into smaller particles), masks should help decrease incoming or outcoming exposure.





Freka.kr

But enough medicalese. At this point, the CDC (but not WHO) is recommending people to wear a face covering when they leave the house, and this is probably a good idea. So what does it all boil down to in the end? It means that we know most masks will filter out some degree of droplets, but we can't quantify the clinical difference in the real world with certainty. The overall impression is that they probably do more good than harm, even homemade cloth masks, based on imperfect data. A 70% reduction in droplets - hell, 50% - is a number most people would take compared with nothing. And when you're talking about a virus that is spread primarily through droplets, we connect the dots in the most logical fashion in the absence of strong evidence.But enough medicalese. At this point, the CDC (but not WHO) is recommending people to wear a face covering when they leave the house, and this is probably a good idea.

Buying a Mask Kai D. Utility



*Second Disclaimer* - This should go without saying, but please don’t buy N95s. If you’re not fit tested for them, you’re almost certainly not getting much additional benefit while simultaneously taking them away from the hands of healthcare providers. N95s provide protection during times when the virus is more likely to infect, which is usually during certain types of procedures.









Hard pass





Here in the west, masks still feel strange to wear, but in Asian countries they're quite common. When worn outside of healthcare reasons, though, I've always associated the style more so with streetwear and not necessarily classic or heritage menswear. Generally, "fashion" masks are usually made in either the pleated rectangle surgical mask style or a shape that looks kinda like Shredder from TMNT (StyFo's Sarti Italiani model is a total Shredder mask, for instance). N95s come in several shapes as well, though those shapes are rarely translated into commercial fashion masks, probably because they are quite fugly - often duck-like or comically conical.

Yes, please - Kai D. Utility

The thing that really pushed me to write this post in the first place, however, was coming across the masks that Kai, from Kai D. Utility, My god. I've been noodling around with the idea of using vintage Japanese fabrics to sew up in a style of mask I like, but Kai D.'s simple versions are a total homerun - no more proof than being almost instantly sold out every time he's released them. On his IG account, The thing that really pushed me to write this post in the first place, however, was coming across the masks that Kai, from Kai D. Utility, has been making recently I've been noodling around with the idea of using vintage Japanese fabrics to sew up in a style of mask I like, but Kai D.'s simple versions are a total homerun - no more proof than being almost instantly sold out every time he's released them. On his IG account, he put out a statement recently noting that the demand has been so high it's been stressing him out and affecting his general well-being, so he's scaling back for now to take care of himself and his business for a while. Still, there should be a few posted daily around 11 AM for now, which sell for $30 + $9.99 shipping (increased from $20, initially). You can find them in the "supplies" section of the Kai D. website here , and stock should be more attainable when he can source more supplies from abroad.