ST. JOHN'S — Items that were once easy to purchase in Newfoundland and Labrador, such as hand sanitizer and face masks, are now difficult to find.

Local companies have stepped up to help produce hand sanitizer and now a St. John’s-based small business has started selling filtered face masks.

Midnight Tailors is owned by Shara King and Dave Mullett and the duo produces a number of pop-culture themed accessories, ranging from bowties to earrings to scarves. A friend came to them with the idea of the filtered masks and it went from there.

Mullett said their friend sourced out a material that is used to filter furnaces and air conditioners for pathogens and bacteria.

“It’s rated for three months of continual use for a furnace or air conditioner and it’s safe for humans to use,” he said. “Doctors' masks use essentially the same material repurposed. So, he went and bought a bunch of this stuff and said ‘figure something out, we want masks."

They prototyped different masks for a week or so and came up with something they feel can help people and still look stylish. They posted on social media on March 30 that the masks were for sale and were inundated with orders.

“We had 200 ordered in the first two hours and it hasn’t stopped since then,” King said. “Every time we check there are 10 or 15 more messages.”

Many individuals and families have reached out for masks, they said, as well as some larger groups such as the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and a couple of local animal hospitals.

While they are selling the masks, Mullett and King said they are also offering masks to people who can’t afford them.

“We’ll send them out as a good deed,” Mullett said. “If people can’t afford them and really feel like they need them, we’ll send them out. We’ve also had other people who are paying for their own (and) paying for several others so it’s a really beautiful show of humanity going on as a result of this. It’s been really, really cool.”

They are offering contactless deliveries of the masks in the St. John’s metro region and they’re available for sale on their website.