What Face Mask Fabrics Do People Actually Order?

Around the end of May I realized that our little mask business had become more of a fashion business than a utility business. By which I mean that, once huge numbers of inexpensive masks of all kinds arrived in stores, our business would live or die on whether we could offer unique features, including a wide selection of attractive fabrics, higher quality construction, super-luxurious silk linings, and better nose wires. That’s how we ended up needing special shelves to hold the 200 different fabrics we stock.

Now that we are closing in on 4000 masks sold, I thought I would take a look at which patterns have been the most popular, and which have…not. So below you can see a complete dump of the number of each pattern we’ve sold to date.

Some of the high-ranking choices are there because they were early selections, back when we had only a few fabrics available, so people had to order what we had. Intense Swirl is an example of that. Others are recent favorites: Molecules on Blue, which has sold more than Intense Swirl, is a recent addition. Black Chemistry 2 is one of our most recently added fabrics, and is selling like masks in a pandemic. The popularity of those two is due, no doubt, to promotions to chemists, and a coattails effect from the star-by-a-wide-margin, which I am very pleased to say is my own photographic periodic table fabric (based on my book The Elements).

Many of the fabrics that have sold only a few masks are just as nice as the more popular ones, but they arrived at a time when we already had a hundred or more choices. Fortunately we only need to sell about two masks of a given fabric for it to be break-even (I’ve learned not to buy much of any one fabric until it’s proven). And of course the popular ones more than make up for the money-losing cases. That’s pretty typical of many businesses, including publishing, and I assume fashion as well. Nobody knows what’s going to be popular, so you hedge your bets and hope for a few whales to cover the dogs. (Speaking of which, The Dogs of Christmas is a cute and playful fabric: surely we can do better than just 8 sold?)

So, here is the list. If the name isn’t a link, that’s a fabric we have run out of and can’t get any more. (How can we have run out of some that we only sold a few of? Because we also, for a while, sold them in retail stores, using up fabric which is not accounted for here. And a few fabrics early on were things we just had lying around and we only had enough for half a dozen masks total.)

498	Periodic Table
203	Solid Black
89	Molecules on Blue
84	Intense Swirl
79	Colorful Elements
77	Solid Royal Blue
65	Black Math
59	Black Chemistry 2
57	Pink Flowers
50	Purple With Gold Floral
49	Black And White Angles
47	Leaves
45	Green Flowers
43	Black And Blue Lines
42	Genuine Batik 1
42	Glow-in-the-Dark Blue Stars
41	Genuine Batik 26
40	Black Chemistry
38	Mottled Bone
35	Beakers and Flasks and Tubes Oh My (Blue)
35	Molecules on Gray
33	Constellations
32	Illini
30	Flower Garden
30	Solid Purple
29	Genuine Batik 24
28	Glow-in-the-Dark Blue Curves And Dots
27	Elegant Gray Leaves
27	Genuine Batik 27
27	Urbana Tigers
26	Purple With Gold Stars
25	Flowery Skulls
25	Glow-in-the-Dark Rockets and Planets
25	Silver Snowflakes On Blue
24	Colorful Dinosaurs
23	Genuine Batik 13
23	Genuine Batik 20
23	Silver Snowflakes On White
23	Genuine Batik 23
22	Genuine Batik 30
22	Solid Cadet Blue
22	Blue Floral
21	Camo
21	Fireworks
21	Genuine Batik 25
21	Genuine Batik 33
21	Intense Red Spots
21	Wavy Rainbow
20	Colorful Graphite
20	Grateful Dead
19	Bronze Leaves
19	Colorful Stripes
19	Small Scientists
19	Witches and Pumpkins
19	Minecraft
18	Black On Black Music
17	Tiny Teal Tykes
16	Genuine Batik 22
16	Solid Periwinkle Blue
16	White Math
15	Comic Cards
15	Flames
15	Pale Plaid
14	Solid Amish Green
13	American Flag
13	Beakers and Flasks and Tubes Oh My (Green)
13	Black And White Deer
13	Burgundy Lumberjack
13	Christmas
13	Genuine Batik 14
13	Holly On Green
13	White Snowflakes On Blue
13	Disks
13	Honeycomb
13	Light Purple
12	Flowers and Pine Cones
12	Genuine Batik 29
12	Glow-in-the-Dark Rockets All Over
12	Solid Orange
12	Sunflowers on Black
12	Tiny Carrots
12	Comic Squares
12	Feathers
12	Pink Eiffel Tower
11	Genuine Batik 15
11	The Who Band
11	White Snowflakes On Red and Black
11	Pink Pigs
11	Southwestern
10	Arrows
10	Illini 2
10	Solid Dark Gold
10	Solid Red
10	Spiders and Skulls
10	Gray Squares
10	Pink and Purple Flowers
10	Yellow Flowers
9	BB-8
9	Colorful Flowers On Black
9	Dark and Subtle Leaves
9	Realistic Dinosaurs
9	Flags and Fireworks
9	Glow-in-the-Dark Yellow Stars
9	Pale Diamonds
9	Potato
9	Red Vader
9	Silver Snowflakes On Red
8	Green Speckle
8	Navy
8	Solid Rose
8	Solid Tea Stain
8	The Dogs of Christmas
8	Tiny Gold Sparkle Leaves
8	Watermellon
8	Genuine Batik 5
7	Blue Comics
7	Blue Sparkle Hearts
7	Candy Corn
7	Chicago Flag
7	Genuine Batik 16
7	Glow-in-the-Dark Rockets and Moons
7	Glow-in-the-Dark Rockets Going Up Blue
7	Glow-in-the-Dark Rockets Going Up Purple
7	Harvest Pluses
7	Moana
7	RealTree Edge
7	Solid Carnation
7	Solid Lilac
7	Thanksgiving
7	Crowns
7	Genuine Batik 28
7	Genuine Batik 7
7	Incredibles
7	Pink Butterflies
6	Candy Canes on Black
6	Flags and Phrases
6	Genuine Batik 21
6	Green with Tiny Gold Dots
6	Red and Black Gingham
6	Solid Rouge
6	Genuine Batik 2
6	Genuine Batik 3
6	Genuine Batik 6
5	African Pattern 2
5	Air Force Planes
5	Flags and Eagles
5	Flags and Notes
5	Genuine Batik 32
5	Gray Gingham
5	Legal in Illinois Dark
5	Legal in Illinois Light
5	My Little Pony
5	Solid Kelly Green
5	White Snowflakes On Red
5	Bear And Deer
5	Genuine Batik 4
5	Genuine Batik 8
5	Trucks
5	White/Speckled
4	Cupcakes
4	Death Notice
4	Flowers with Gold Outlines
4	Follow Your Dreams
4	Genuine Batik 18
4	Genuine Batik 36
4	Holly On White
4	Moose Lake Dark
4	Snowflakes on Music
4	Solid Garnet Color
4	Solid Yellow
4	Tiny Trees on Red and Black
4	Genuine Batik 11
4	Imitation Batik 4
4	Imitation Batik 5
3	African Pattern 1
3	Air Force
3	Amber Leaves with Gold
3	Army
3	Colorful Leaves on Black
3	Genuine Batik 17
3	Genuine Batik 19
3	Genuine Batik 31
3	Golden Brown Gingham
3	Gold Sparkle Christmas Trees
3	KISS Band
3	Leaves with Silver Outlines
3	Marines
3	Solid Light Blue
3	Solid Light Pink
3	Solid Lime
3	Solid Wine Color
3	Tiny Bones
3	Trucks on Blue Gears
3	Genuine Batik 12
3	Imitation Batik 1
3	Imitation Batik 6
3	Orange Flowers
3	Watermelon
2	AC/DC Band
2	Genuine Batik 34
2	Green Flowers 2
2	Mermaids (Small)
2	Solid Cocoa
2	Solid Maize
2	Solid Paper Bag Color
2	Solid Sea Foam
2	Solid Tangerine
2	Tiny Trucks
2	Trucks on Gray Gears
2	White Sprigs On Red
2	Imitation Batik 2
2	Imitation Batik 7
2	Moose Lake
1	African Pattern 4
1	Cabin in the Woods
1	Coast Guard
1	Easter
1	Genuine Batik 38
1	Illinois State
1	Legal in Illinois 3D
1	Maple Leaves
1	Mermaids (Large)
1	Pumpkins and Leaves on White
1	Purple Witches
1	Sparkle Star of David
1	Ugly Sweaters
1	Butterflies
1	Genuine Batik 9
1	Imitation Batik 3
1	Imitation Batik 8