Recommends: Brooks Brothers Face Masks

UPDATE August 2020—Still going strong. Here’s a pic of me wearing one recently meeting up with a friend.

Buy them in a 5 pack, 20 pack, 100 pack or 500 here.

UPDATE: June 2020—I’ve had the masks for several weeks and still recommend them. Of the 5, one of them broke (the strap snapped off), though it’s fixable. They’ve held up in a hand wash cycle in our washing machine, and the metal nose piece still works well. They’re lightweight and easy to fold up and put in your pocket. These aren’t N95’s, but true N95s are probably best suited for people working in very high risk situations where they’re right in peoples’ faces like dentists or other medical professionals. Still recommended for the price.

In case you’re in need of face masks (I became convinced that everyone should wear a face mask, and that it’d be the fastest way to get everyone’s life back in gear after reading this Atlantic piece last month), Brooks Brothers now sells the ones their factories are making here.

It’s superior to standard woven cotton masks, which catch in the range of 50-60% of <1 micron particles (Coronavirus is .3 microns). These are designed to catch up to 95%. From their product description:

Proudly crafted in the USA, our masks are sewn in our own factories using state-of-the-art non-woven material that has been tested to filter 95% of particles of 0.3 microns. Featuring higher filtration capacity than standard cotton fabrication, this superior material has been developed with a leading university to provide protection and high breathability to minimize interior humidity inside the mask when wearing for long periods of time.

I found two N95’s in my basement from some sanding project or other last month, but I will probably buy a pack of these since I expect to be wearing a mask in public for a long time; the disposable ones I found will wear out at some point, and having some that are washable/reusable will be necessary.

Buy them in a 5 pack, 20 pack, 100 pack or 500 here.

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