ReChaco is resetting.

As of Monday, March 30, the Rockford, MI-based factory that creates custom footwear and repairs older footwear for Wolverine’s sandal brand is now in the medical mask-making business. After regular production shut down under Michigan’s stay-at-home order on March 23, Lisa Kondrat, director of operations for ReChaco, said her team — inspired by the number of friends and loved ones in the medical field lacking protective gear — has began making masks to be delivered to  the Grand Rapids-based Spectrum Health hospitals and facilities.

“The first day — which was yesterday — was pretty slow, but today we’ve tripled production,” Kondrat told Footwear Insight Extra on Tuesday. “Everyone’s caught on really fast and their  attitude is really great.”

Working with a volunteer crew of about six, Kondrat hopes to eventually create 150 to 250 masks a day. (Sewers who volunteer to come in are being paid their normal salaries, but reporting for duty is completely optional, and workers who do come in are practicing social distancing in the factory and sanitizer, mask and gloves are being provided.)

An experienced seamstress, Kondrat adapted a patten intended for home sewers provided on Spectrum’s website to a factory workflow and has been teaching her team — only a fraction of whom have any sewing experience — to create the masks. For materials, the team started with fabric Kondrat had bought herself to make quilts for her grandchildren, as well as bargain fabric sourced from local shops. They also discovered a trove of — Kondrat said “tens of thousands” — of never-used bootlaces from Wolverine’s Bates brand that have made ideal straps. (They’re more comfortable, even, than the traditional elastic loops, she said.)

A further shipment of material initially ordered by Wolverine’s Merrell brand will arrive from overseas at some point in the future, she said, and will be use for masks. “The Wolverine brands really are stepping us — they’ve been so supportive to us,” Kondrat said. And as soon as a shipment is complete, she said, masks will be on their way: Delivery to Spectrum is being donated by the firm who normally does deliveries within Wolverine’s buildings.

Additional masks are being made in Portland, OR, by the ReChaco Mobile Repair Factory bus, which was touring in the Pacific Northwest and is remaining there to adhere to shelter in place guidelines. Those masks will be used to fill needs in the Portland area.

Kondrat said she’s been floored by the response she’s received since Chaco and Wolverine shared a press release about turning their US manufacturing capability to serving the local needs  — even on her own personal social media. “The response has been huge. The first night, it went nuts, with people reaching out from as far away as Alaska asking, ‘could we get some of those masks?’” she said. “I wish we could make 10,000 a day, that’s how many people have reached out.”