KOCHI: Divya V, a fashion designer, found out that her neighbour’s two-and-a-half-year-old daughter was sick and had to be taken to the hospital, but they couldn’t since they were out of face masks. This made her think about home-made solutions to this issue. As kids probably don’t like to walk around with a mask on their face, it can be strange or even a little scary for them to get used to it. So, why not make them fun? This was Divya’s idea behind making cartoon-themed face masks for kids.
Divya is working on Disney, Pokemon designs and other cartoons as suggested by her customers. “Like adults, children also need to wear masks to protect themselves from the virus, but face masks for children are not available.
Most of the parents make them wear either a surgical mask or cloth mask which doesn’t even fit them and they feel uneasy. So, I thought of making kids size masks which are colourful as well as comfortable for them,” says Divya.
“It takes hours to bring out the characters. Also, getting the correct measurement for a kid’s face is difficult. I went through many YouTube tutorials to get the perfect measurements while making a kid’s mask,” says the 24-year-old fashion designer. Since a child’s skin is delicate and catches skin irritations easily, Divya uses only cotton cloth for making these masks.
“While taking orders, I enquire what cartoon characters are preferred by the child,” she says. The designs will make kids curious to wear them too. The masks are priced at `50 each. She has already delivered about 12 cartoon masks and has got about 60 additional orders. Divya also creates floral and printed masks for adults.