TOWSON, Md. — Only four months into 2020, it has been a troubling year for Route One Apparel Founder and CEO Ali von Paris.
On January 16, the family farmhouse, built in the 1850's, where she grew up burned to the ground in Upper Falls, Maryland. Treasured memories and a family dog died in the inferno.
Two months later, von Paris' 10-year-old business would face its toughest challenge yet.
"Our sales were tanking at the end of March and early April," said von Paris. "We started having daily meetings with the team basically saying we're most likely going to have to start cutting everyone's hours. Cutting back. We're unsure about our business being operational."
Route One Apparel began in 2010 with a college bar themed T-shirt and has grown into a thriving company that sells Maryland, University of Maryland, Old Bay and Maryland crab-themed clothing and merchandise, among other themed apparel.
Just days before being faced with a wrenching decision on the fate of her company, von Paris said her printing business kept pressing her to come up with fresh design ideas. The company came up with a variety of quarantine-themed T-shirts, and the designs went viral.
Shortly after releasing the T-shirts, von Paris said customers started asking about masks. Although initially hesitant, von Paris and her team came up with several design ideas and began manufacturing the masks. One of Route One's early mask customers was Mike Ricci, communications director for Governor Larry Hogan (R-Maryland).
At his next press briefing, Governor Hogan not only wore the "Maryland Strong" mask, he called out von Paris and Route One Apparel for its products and community stewardship.
"We had no idea what he was going to say on TV," said von Paris.
After the Governor's briefing, von Paris says a massive spike of customers within Maryland actually crashed the company's website for an hour. Approximately 40,000 people attempted to log on to the site simultaneously.
Normally, von Paris says Route One Apparel would process 40-50 orders per day. In a short span of time, the company was looking to fulfill 10,000 orders. Now instead of fighting to stay viable and employ 70 people, von Paris is looking to add more employees to keep up with the demand.
For each mask sold, Route One is donating one to a front-line COVID-19 worker. In the early days of the pandemic, the company donated its entire stock of Maryland-themed fanny packs to medical staff and first response teams. Additionally, Route One has donated $10,000 to the BARCS animal shelter in Baltimore, and von Paris says she's coordinating with the Maryland Food Bank to make another sizable donation.