SANTA ANA, Ca. — In response to COVID-19, AFTCO is excited to announce its new Buy 1, Give 1 Mask Donation Program. AFTCO has produced a run of fishing face masks in short order to help address the immediate needs of the public and community. For each Buy 1, Give 1 Mask sold, AFTCO will donate a mask to a community organization in need.
After the CDC updated their guidance recommending that the public wear a non-medical fabric face covering, AFTCO received an avalanche of requests from people looking for the best fishing face mask. This opened the team’s eyes to the far-reaching demand for masks of any type and they quickly pivoted all capabilities into scaling production on a reusable fishing face mask to fulfill the needs of the community.
“Our vendors really stepped up, recognizing the urgency to get this program completed,” says AFTCO Director of Production Dom Hirota. “We put all of our regular sun mask efforts on hold, forgoing a large immediate sales opportunity to quickly shift our production capacity into a specially designed tubular shaped UPF fishing face mask. One that could be used in broader applications other than just fishing. This new design enabled our vendors to produce the many thousands of units we needed at record speeds.”
AFTCO understands that many single-use masks will likely end up in trash bins or landfills when this is all over. Our reusable fishing face masks address that problem, performing double duty as cloth face coverings suitable for wearing in public places, and as functional UPF 40+ sun masks built for enjoying the outdoors. In addition to offering the fishing masks online at reduced prices in order to get them in hands of the public ASAP, AFTCO built a program that generates a donated mask for each mask sold. After looking at many successful 1:1 give-back models, the Buy 1, Give 1 Mask Program was deployed. The purchase of each mask will result in a donated mask to a community member in need. While AFTCO is not selling these masks in bulk to the public, we are making the program available to our current wholesale network. Retailers that are performing essential business functions can use their Give 1 masks to outfit their staff. AFTCO will ship these Give 1 masks to wholesale customers for them to distribute in their local communities.
AFTCO encourages customers to take social distancing and local and state government recommendations seriously. You can view the recent blog article 6 Tips for Responsible Recreation to learn how you can still enjoy the outdoors with a mindful approach. For more information on the AFTCO Buy 1, Give 1 program, visit our website which addresses some of the most Frequently Asked Questions and provides additional information on CDC guidelines in regards to facial coverings.
Below are some additional helpful resources:
#ResponsibleRecreation – Learn more about ASA’s new Responsible Recreation campaign.
Fish For Each Other – An online fishing community can come together to help one another in this time of need.
#FishSmart – Bassmaster shares some helpful types for fishing smart during the pandemic.
NMMA Outdoor Boating Access – Boating regulations vary by state. The NNMA has a helpful MAP with additional state access details.
AFTCO’s COVID-19 Polices – How AFTCO is doing its part to flatten the curve.
