Designers and entrepreneurs fashion face masks for medical professionals in Houston

ready and resourceful

A few local designers have pivoted to create face masks for local health care workers. Photo courtesy of Magpies & Peacocks

The coronavirus is sweeping the globe and creating new challenges. Notably, companies are not able to keep up with the demand for the N95 masks needed to keep the health care workers safe. Now, Houston's fashion industry is stepping up.

Megan Eddings, founder of Accel Lifestyle, says an article she read about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advising health care professionals to wear homemade masks or bandanas due to the shortage of the N95 masks inspired her. She was compelled to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic locally and nationwide.

"Accel's Prema fabric was created to prevent the growth of bacteria," Eddings tells CultureMap. "The fabric can be washed up to 100 times and it will still be 99.99-percent anti-bacteria."

Eddings says it dawned on her that she has over 500 shirts made, here in Houston, that could easily be recreated into masks. Her supply chain team consists of 20 sewers and she notes that number can quickly double.

"We have enough supplies here to make 9,000 masks and I have 2,800 yards of fabric sitting at my factory in California," she says. "That's enough fabric to make more than 100,000 masks."

Eddings and her team also tell CultureMap that 47,000 yards of elastic is en route to the Bayou City this week.

"I knew this was serious when the president of MD Anderson responded to my Saturday morning email within three minutes of sending," she says. "He's interested, and they want the infection control team to analyze the fabric."

Other local hospitals interested in Accel Lifestyle's masks are Methodist, Texas Children's, Baylor, and Memorial Hermann. The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City has also shown interest as well as Yale's New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut.

Accel's masks are made out of their specialty anti-bacteria fabric. Photo courtesy of Accel

When Chloe Dao made the decision to temporarily close her Rice Village boutique last Tuesday, offering shopping requests by appointment only, she posted a video to her Instagram account the following day about the emotional roller coaster she's been on surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak.

In the video, Dao says she wanted to play a role in helping her community by creating a pattern and hand sewing 100 washable face masks with pockets. She noted in the caption that the pocket allows for extra filtration but that because it's a fabric mask, it does not stop the spread of the virus. Dao also recommends washing the mask before wearing it.

With production underway since her initial 100 masks, available in small/medium and medium/large, Dao and her team have produced close to 1,000 masks for Houstonians who reached out via social media.

"The requests are overwhelming," a representative for the label tells CultureMap. "We're now shifting our focus to help those on the front line of the coronavirus outbreak; the doctors, nurses, family members of doctors and nurses."

For those who would like to donate to Dao's efforts to continue producing these washable masks, click here.

Houston-based, internationally recognized nonprofit design house, Magpies & Peacocks, and Inclán Studio, a local women's ready-to-wear fashion label, are upcycling together to create nonwoven polypropylene masks, which will be distributed to Houston-area hospitals.

Founder and CEO, Sarah-Jayne Smith and vice president and director of communications/PR, Ahshia Berry, tells CultureMap that partnering together was never a question for either of our brands but more "how can we pull our resources together and help during these trying times."

Clarence Lee, a designer at Inclán Studio, tells CultureMap he searched the studio to find elastic cording that didn't get used in past collections.

"Waste as a resource and upcycling material for good use has never been more important than it is right now," Magpies & Peacocks writes on an Instagram post.

Houston Arts Alliance and Visit Houston donated excess promotional products and now, are deconstructed to reuse the material for these masks.

"It's actually a spun plastic, not a fabric, so it works effectively as a filter, and is more moisture resistant," Magpies & Peacocks tells CultureMap. "It's more compliant and efficient for the current exposure to the service industry in the midst of the crisis."

Lee, who is also a lead designer for Magpies & Peacocks, and serves as an executive board member for the nation's exclusive nonprofit design house, tells CultureMap that for them, it simply boils down to help in any capacity, especially after seeing what's happening across the country with the shortage of supplies.

He notes that they may not have all the supplies, but they do have the capability and time to sew to help those that are on the frontline, fighting and sacrificing everything they have.

"[Houston] is our home, and we all have a part to play in helping fight this," he says. "The [fashion] industry has a major role, and now is definitely the time to show how valuable it can be."

Magpies & Peacocks and Inclán Studio aim to produce 500-600 masks, and hopefully more, should they come across more materials, Lee tells CultureMap. Seven volunteers are helping to sew these nonwoven polypropylene masks.

------

This article originally ran on CultureMap.

Ad Placement 300x100
Ad Placement 300x600

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Property Showcase

Houston Methodist receives record $110M gift, names future tower

historic gift

Houston Methodist has received the largest gift in the health system's history to establish new funds for neurological, neuroscience, and women’s health research and treatment.

The $110 million gift comes from Houston-based The Brockman Medical Research Foundation, which supports education and research in the science, medicine and healthcare fields. In response, Houston Methodist announced that it will name its forthcoming 26-story hospital facility the Brockman Centennial Tower.

The tower’s entrance will be named the Anna Margaret Bellows Centennial Hall to honor Anna Margaret Bellows, a young camper who died during the Camp Mystic flooding last summer.

“This extraordinary gift accelerates discovery and transforms how care is delivered,” Dr. Marc Boom, president and CEO of Houston Methodist, said in a news release. “We are grateful to The Brockman Medical Research Foundation for its incredible generosity and vision that will help change the lives of generations of patients. Naming Centennial Tower in recognition of this gift reflects the scale of this commitment and its impact on the future of neuroscience, neurological care and women’s health.”

The gift will be divided into two parts:

  • $100 million will go toward creating an innovation fund within the Houston Methodist Academic Institute and the Houston Methodist Neurological Institute
  • $10 million will be devoted to Houston Methodist's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology

“This tremendous gift will accelerate translational research that broadens our understanding of neurological and other diseases,” Dr. Jenny Chang, president and CEO of the Houston Methodist Academic Institute, added in the release. “It will allow us to leverage state-of-the-art platforms to detect, diagnose and deliver therapeutics, keeping patient care at the center of our mission.”

The Brockman Centennial Tower is expected to open next year in the Texas Medical Center. Spanning more than 1 million square feet, it will house 400 patient beds, an expanded emergency department, new operating rooms and a rooftop garden. It will be connected to Houston Methodist's flagship Paula and Joseph C. “Rusty” Walter III Tower, which opened in 2018. The Centennial Tower was estimated to cost $1.4 billion when announced in 2022.

In addition to the news of the Brockman gift, Houston Methodist also announced this month that it has launched the Houston Methodist Center for Cell and Gene Therapy and tapped an internationally recognized scientist as its leader.

The new center is focused on discovering and developing innovative and cost-effective therapies for a variety of congenital and acquired diseases, including cancer, HIV and cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Malcolm Brenner has been named as the center's inaugural leader and will assume the role starting in October. He will work alongside scientists and support staff from Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital.

Brenner is a professor of pediatrics, medicine, molecular and human genetics and translational biology at Baylor College of Medicine. He is known for making early advances in using bone marrow transplantation as a form of cell therapy and in engineered immune-cell treatments for cancer and infections, according to a release from Houston Methodist.

“Malcolm Brenner is a pioneer in the field of cell and gene therapy and is uniquely qualified to lead Houston Methodist’s research efforts in this field,” Chang added. “His vision and leadership will play a pivotal role in advancing our work in this space.”

Report: Houston reclaims top 10 ranking among America's best cities

Houston has made a triumphant return to America's 10 best cities for 2026, certifying the city is a cornerstone of the country's growth and economic prosperity.

Houston ranks No. 9 nationwide in the annual "America's Best Cities" report from Canada-based real estate and tourism marketing firm Resonance Consultancy. Each year, the report ranks the relative qualities of livability, cultural "lovability," and economic prosperity in 393 American cities with metropolitan populations of 500,000 or more.

Dallas surpassed H-Town as the No. 8 best city in America, and the Lone Star State boasts a strong presence among the top 25. Austin and San Antonio, respectively, were named the 11th and 24th best American cities this year.

Previously, Houston was dubbed the 13th best American city in 2025, down from its No. 10 ranking in the 2024 report.

Rather than profiling each individual city like in past reports, the 2026 edition focuses on regional and state prosperity. Texas' economic dominance is second only to Florida's, and the state's growth is solidified by the Dallas-Houston-Austin "triangle," where each metro has its own distinct economic identity, but when combined "form one of the most formidable regional economies in the world."

"In our 2026 survey, Dallas ranks third nationally as the place Americans believe offers the best job opportunities, Austin fifth, and Houston seventh," the report's author wrote. "That concentration of perceived economic opportunity in a single state is unmatched, and the GDP data confirms it isn’t just perception."

After being named one of the best places to start a business or a career earlier in 2026, Houston has continued to punch above its weight with its success in tourism, education, and housing growth.

Overall, the report found a correlation between a city's population growth and its latest ranking, with bigger cities appearing higher up on the list. The top three best American cities — New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago — are coincidentally the three largest metros, while Dallas and Houston are the fourth and fifth largest but appear eighth and ninth on the list.

"Scale compounds at the large city level — more people generate more economic activity, more cultural infrastructure, more employer presence, which attracts more people," the report said.

The top 10 best cities in America for 2026 are:

  • No. 1 – New York
  • No. 2 – Los Angeles
  • No. 3 – Chicago
  • No. 4 – Miami
  • No. 5 – San Francisco
  • No. 6 – Seattle
  • No. 7 – Las Vegas
  • No. 8 – Dallas
  • No. 9 – Houston
  • No. 10 – Boston

New probe into Tesla after vehicle slams into Houston-area home at high speed

Tesla Talk

The top U.S. auto regulator opened an investigation Monday, June 22, after a Tesla using an automated driving feature slammed into a Texas home at high speed and killed a 76-year-old woman standing inside.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it's opening a special investigation into the Tesla Model 3 crash on Friday near Houston, a significant probe because the car was using technology that Elon Musk considers key to the company's future.

The Tesla CEO is rolling out robotaxis using automated software in several U.S. cities this year and plans to invite Tesla owners to put their cars into the fleet using the same system across the country.

The driver told the Harris County Sheriff's Office that he was using the technology, according to a police report on the crash, but it's not clear what role, if any, it played in the incident.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment but the head of the company's artificial intelligence efforts suggested on social media later Monday that the self-driving feature was not to blame.

“In this case, the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% of the accel pedal in this residential area,” wrote Ashok Elluswamy on X, the platform that is now part of Musk's rocket company, SpaceX. “They reached a speed of 73 mph during the crash, and had the accelerator pressed even after the crash.”

The police report noted that the driver was not drunk and is cooperating. It identified the woman killed as Martha Avila.

Video obtained by KHOU-TV shows the car traveling at top speed over the front lawn of a brick home in Katy, then ramming into a front room. The next shot shows the car encased in the home amid piles of crumbling plaster, split beams and bits of furniture.

The auto safety regulator, known as NHTSA, has launched several investigations into Tesla, including one late last year into 58 incidents in which Teslas reportedly violated traffic safety laws while using self-driving technology, leading to more than a dozen crashes and fires and nearly two dozen injuries.

A few months earlier, the NHTSA opened an investigation into why Tesla apparently had not been reporting crashes promptly as required.

As for special crash investigations, the NHTSA has opened 46 involving Teslas using self-driving or driver-assistance technology over the past decade, according to the agency's records. In more than a dozen of those crashes, at least one person — a driver, passenger or pedestrian — was killed.

Tesla stock fell sharply early last year as car sales plunged amid a boycott of Musk after he waded into politics, leading President Donald Trump's budget-cutting Department of Government Efficiency initiative and embracing European extremist candidates.

Musk has since shifted the Tesla story to one less about car sales and more about AI and robotaxis, and done so successfully. The stock is up 16% in the past year.

View All Listings