Tailored Fit, Comfortable, and Effective Elastomeric Mask for Adults.
Our Story
Backstory
The Flo Mask team is comprised of friends who happen to be award winning product designers. Every day, we create products used by millions of people around the world for some of the most notable Silicon Valley companies. We felt compelled to use our skills to keep our very own kids safe from California wildfire smoke that has sadly become an annual occurrence, lasting weeks on end.
Over a two year period, we pioneered a new, innovative process in building next generation masks, finally launching Flo Mask for kids in Dec 2020. What started as a mask for air pollution has rapidly become the preferred choice for thousands of parents around the world to protect their most precious from a raging global pandemic.
Our Mission
“Build the world’s best mask for everyone, period.”
Today, our mission has expanded beyond just kids. Once again, we’ve felt a calling to rise to the challenge to contribute our deep product expertise in helping better the world. Our Flo Mask team has lost family members to this horrible virus, which only makes this project that much more personal.
There’s a fundamental problem with today’s masks.
It’s no secret that today’s masks leave so much to be desired. Most companies focus only on filtration efficiency, but that’s just one aspect to a great mask. Here are the biggest complaints we’ve all experienced:
- They don’t fit properly, leaving massive gaps around the nose and sides of the face.
- They hurt our ears and can leave them sore for days on end.
- They tickle our nose.
- They fog our glasses.
- They are suffocating while exercising.
- They struggle to stay put when we talk.
- They aren’t truly effective at protecting us or others.
The list goes on and on. Two years into this global crisis, we’re appalled by how few masks in the market actually work well.
We believe there’s a better solution. It’s called Flo Mask Pro.
Winning Phase 1 of the Biden Adminstration’s BARDA Mask Challenge has given us the confidence to create an adult mask. At the same time, we sought out next generation filtration media to push real innovation in the industry. We’ve also learned a ton from our experience with Flo Mask for kids, incorporating new techniques in our adult design.
Over the past 12 months, we’ve dedicated hundreds of hours to achieving our three core pillars:
- Tailored fit
- Comfort, both physical and respiratory
- Effectiveness
Achieving a tailored fit.
Utilizing data of over 100+ 3D scans of real adults, we’ve refined numerous prototypes to develop two distinct shapes we believe will create a tight seal for over 90% of the adult population, taking into account both low and high nose bridges.
Here’s an image of multiple scans layered on top of one another.
Flo Mask Pro comes in two sizes which we believe will cover 90%+ of the adult population.
Flo Mask exterior and interior dimensions for you to check if it meets your face size.
Striving for unmatched comfort.
A pillowy soft silicone gasket ensures a tight, yet comfortable seal, allowing for hours of wear without any discomfort. We even used real 3D models of glasses to help sculpt indents in our design to try to accommodate a wide range of eye wear.
The gasket is co-molded to a polycarbonate housing, keeping the mask away from the sensitive parts of your face and ensuring the mask never collapses against your nostrils during heavy breathing. Our straps are fully adjustable and wrap around the head and neck.
Flo Mask Pro weighs less than three ounces (mask, filter, straps, condensation insert), which makes it perfect for all day use.
[Choose additional Flo Mask Pro units as an add on when checking out.]
Say goodbye to foggy glasses!
Next generation filtration media for the masses.
Flo Mask Pro uses next generation filtration media, made here in the USA. This innovative filter technology allows for improved breathability in a compact form, while maintaining a high efficiency rate of filtration. Preliminary testing of our filter has been extremely positive, achieving 99.7% filtration efficiency. Our goal is to pre test our mask and filter against N95 standards once production units are ready.
Our filters never dropped below 99% efficiency during a standard loading test.
Different filters for different use cases.
The interchangeable filter design of Flo Mask Pro offers greater flexibility to choose which filter is right for you. For environments where you want maximum filtration efficiency, you can pop in our next gen Pro Filter. When planning to be active, a more breathable yet effective filter could be a better option. Our Everyday Filter uses the same Technostat® filter media technology as our kids’ mask which offers unmatched breathability.
Condensation is a reality of elastomeric masks. Each mask includes a condensation insert to keep moisture at bay so you can stay comfortable all day.
[Choose additional Replacement Filters as an add on when checking out.]
Need black for work? We’ve got you covered.
We recognize so many in the workforce may be required to wear a black mask. Therefore, we’ve created a front cover as an add on just for that purpose. Or if you want to just change it up for a fresh look, we love seeing Flo Mask Pro in black.
[Choose the black cover as an add on when checking out.]
Why we need your help!
Building a mask of this caliber is expensive. Your contribution will help us with:
- Production tooling costs.
- Minimum order quantities for long lead time resin and materials.
- Polycarbonate resin
- Liquid silicone rubber resin
- Elastic for straps and other related strap components
- Foam for condensation insert
- Filter media
- Packaging materials
Note: We still haven’t fully finalized every detail of the mask, straps, and filters, so there will be slight tweaks from the current visuals. But trust that we only make tweaks to better a product 🙂
