I founded a small boutique manufacturer called Toast in Portland Oregon, crafting wood and leather tech covers back in 2012. Trying to keep a small company alive has been trying to say the least, but the last couple weeks has been a totally different matter.

We have always had a strong social and environmental underpinning to how we do business, planting 70,000+ trees, donating to non-profits, volunteering for park cleanups etc. But seeing the grave danger our front line workers are facing to care for and combat the Coronavirus pandemic is humbling.

So 3 days ago I decided to see if we could retool Toast and make a difference.

We have 4 large laser cutting machines, but work almost exclusively with natural materials, wood and leather. We have worked hard to create environmentally responsible products with little to no plastics and no VOC finishes. Could we tool up to manufacture a plastic product?

In looking at the shortages of PPE (personal protective equipment) I knew that sewing masks was not an option with our skills and equipment. But face shields, we could possibly cut on our machines and our highly skilled production team could pick up the assembly quickly.

So I dusted off my design degree and jumped into prototyping. Honestly, it was kind of nice considering I have been designing wood wraps for phones and laptops for 8 years straight. Over the next 48 hours I cut, tested, recut, re-tested some 23 prototypes, found and sourced materials and tried to figure out how we get the word out.

Prototyping in paper, mdf and finally in plastic.

First and foremost it needed to be comfortable and lightweight and secure but also wanted to create a face shield that was reusable, something easily sanitized and more sustainable than the disposable ones everyone is aiming to produce. If a health care worker can reuse one shield over again, that sure cuts back on the total number of shields we are going to need.

Of course there will be compromises. One of the first was to forego the foam forehead rest. 1 inch thick open cell foam would never be easy to sanitize. After many iterations I ended up at a acrylic forehead rest and teaming that up with a double elastic strap to keep it secure and adjustable.

Today we started producing these and launched a secure webpage for ordering. We need to prioritize front line workers at health clinics, hospitals and government agencies.

I have estimated that we can produce 1000 per week and if we can secure more materials we can double that.

The final article.

So now we are finding we need to get the word out. I am hoping some of you work in these places looking for face shield suppliers or know people who do. Please pass along our contact info so we can get these to the people who need them. Have them email us at sales@toastmade.com and those who qualify will be sent a link to a purchasing website.

We are only selling in boxes of 50 units and not to individuals or middle men. We want these going to the front lines at the lowest possible price.

Thank you.

Stay safe, stay strong.