SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) – Sacramento based company, BareBones Workwear, prides itself on providing top brands in work wear and safety apparel to its customers while taking care of its workers and giving back to the community. Lately, BareBones has donated hundreds of coveted N95 masks to our local health-care providers.

BareBones Founder and CEO Stu Nelson says that his stores happened to have an extra supply of certain PPE, including masks, and began to move the products from back-stock to the floor in early March as demand began to increase due to the spreading COVID-19 virus. Unfortunately, Nelson shares that while monitoring sales trends at his locations, he got the feeling that some of the purchasers were buying products, specifically the masks, to hoard or re-sell them at higher costs – not because they were truly needed. This concerned Nelson. 

After Nelson received an insider email sharing that local hospitals were in need of PPE and that it was going to become a problem for the healthcare industry as the virus spread, he decided to redirect where the extra masks were going. “When we heard that there was a shortage at hospitals, I was just like, you know what, let’s find somebody local to donate them (masks) to,” says Nelson.  He contacted all of his 6 stores through the Sacramento, Rocklin, Auburn and Yuba City areas and had the supply of masks donated to Sutter Medical in Sacramento and other medical locations in need. “It was really a very quick decision.” He says.

Although there is a now a public shortage of masks, Nelson says that more are on the way. He has recently been notified by one of his suppliers of a new line of masks available in the coming weeks that will feature animal prints, mustaches, unicorns and more. “It’s gonna get fun!” he says, as the masks will feature antimicrobial and moisture wicking technology.

He continues to share that BareBones is doing their part to keep their workers and shoppers safe while having fun. The stores provide gloves to their shoppers and have been giving out free gloves and single rolls of toilet paper to take home (with purchase and while supplies last). Nelson laughs, “We kind of have this thing, “No Crack We Can’t Cover,” which happened to be the company’s motto.

In all seriousness, Nelson says that it is BareBones’ mission as a locally owned and founded business to give back at the local level. “Our job is to support the heroes of our community, and people who work for a living – whatever we can do,” he says.