Son and Mom Help Small Businesses In St. Pete With Masks

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — After 15 years of keeping busy with work in the men's fashion industry, a St. Petersburg resident found his passion coming to a screeching halt in March. But he didn't allow panic from the coronavirus pandemic to overcome him. Instead, 30-year-old Sam Baron had a bigger picture than himself and used his fashion design talents to help St. Pete businesses.

"I called my mom mid-March, and I said, 'Hey, I've got this crazy idea. What do you think about turning all this designer menswear I've accumulated into designer face masks?'" Sam Baron told Patch.

Beth Baron, 58, who has seamstress experience and would be the one to sew these masks from the consignment items, fully supported her son's idea.

"You know when your child calls you and tells you, 'Mom, I've got a great idea,' you know you're going to do it," Beth said.

Sam sent his mom, who lives in Port St. Lucie, materials to make 50 masks starting out. When they went live on their Etsy page, they sold out within two hours.

But even though they were a success on Etsy, they felt that local shops needed to financially benefit from their mask creations after businesses started reopening, so they reached out to businesses and asked if shops wanted to sell them.

"I just thought we could give them masks because we have all the inventory," Sam said. "And they could just pay us after it sells. It was a win-win situation because if the masks didn't sell at the locations, then the businesses didn't have to pay us anything. The goal was basically to help small businesses generate more cash flow from after being in lockdown."

Their masks are sold in four St. Pete locations that include Book + Bottle, Detox Designer Resale Boutique and The Fashion Spot.

Sam and Beth's masks have been proven sellers at those three locations, and the store owners have been able to make some money from the purchases.

"Sam’s masks have gone over very well with our customer base; they love that they’re local and family-made, and the colors and patterns are sophisticated and fun," said Terra Dunham, owner of Book + Bottle. "I feel so fortunate to be able to offer something that helps my customers feel safe while staying so true to brand at Book + Bottle. These are the masks that my whole team wears every day by choice!"

Their mask creations might be different from most out there because they have removable filters.

When Patch asked Sam to provide his business website and Etsy website to share with readers, he said, "I would recommend you go to local stores," he said. "I would rather the local stores benefit from the masks."

In addition to making good-looking masks from designer clothing, they create comic masks that feature characters such as The Hulk out of specially ordered fabric for Coliseum of Comics locations, including the ones in Tampa Bay. This is a commission-based fashion gig.

"Sam and I aren't getting rich off of this," Beth said, "but I think it's great community support to just do our part to help these businesses in St. Pete because they still have to pay rent, they still have to pay the light bill, and I know that people in St. Pete want to support small business."

Anyone in a local business who would like to get in touch with Sam about carrying his masks can contact him at sam@shopbause.com.