The Rise of the Face Mask-Adjacent Economy

It's been more than one year since much of the world locked down and people started wearing protective face masks for all their daily outdoors tasks—so it's no wonder that the face mask market has taken off, with sales of medical-grade, disposable, and fabric masks through the roof everywhere you turn. Piggybacking on the global demand for face masks are tech and accessories companies, who have developed both innovative solutions for daily face mask wearers as well as vanity mask products and novelty items—all designed to make face mask wearing far more bearable and, dare we say it, fun.

Case in point: the new minty face mask stickers from Officine Universelle Buly, which were created for anyone looking for a reprieve from smelling their own trapped breath. Scented with eucalyptus, peppermint, and lemon, "the galvanizing, sanitizing trio brightens our masked daily lives and diffuses its aromatic notes," according to the product description. All the user needs to do is to stick the adhesive mask freshener on the outside of the mask for up to six hours of refreshment. Sure beats coffee breath!

Here are some of our favourite mask-adjacent inventions—some useful, some clever, some silly. As we move through 2021, I'm optimistic that everything is going to be so much better very soon, but in the meantime, I'm going to keep wearing my face mask and... maybe I'll pick up a programmable LED face mask light for special occasions.