Heroes Among Us: From making sportswear to face masks during COVID-19 crisis

LOS ANGELES - Here at FOX 11, we like to spotlight the heroes among us in this unprecedented time living with coronavirus.  

In Buena Park, Equipe Athletics was a young company making custom branded sportswear; not what California would call an essential business. 

Get breaking news alerts in the FOX 11 News app. Download for iOS or Android.

CEO Patrick Tio wanted to keep his employees working, so he started making cloth face masks.                

The 100% polyester fleece masks are washable, bleachable and comfortable.   

For first responders, Equipe Athletic’s mask can be worn over those precious N95 respirators.                

It’s been two weeks and his employees can make as many as 2K masks a day.                

He’s gotten so many orders, he’d like to hire more people to sew the masks. The challenge is having enough space to keep them six feet apart.    

RELATED: CoronavirusNOW.com, FOX launches national hub for COVID-19 news and updates.            

“We were doing swimwear and we were doing cycling wear and yoga clothing.  All different kinds of sportswear.

And, now we’re a 100% mask-making factory,” Tio told me via Skype.                  

Equipe is not only a job maker, but the company has also donated about $15 thousand dollars worth of masks to those in need and he’s pledged to donate one mask to non-profit organizations dealing with COVID-19 for every ten Equipe sells.  

Do you know of a person or company that is going above and beyond to help others during this time? We want to hear from you, submit your nomination here.