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GVSU Alum Brings Relief To Frontline Workers

pic of headband with mask attached
Kat Samardzija creator
/
Locker Lifestyle

Face masks are a common sight among most people during this coronavirus pandemic.  But frontline workers are likely wearing masks for a longer period of time and with that, could experience a bit of irritation… especially around the ears.  A 2019 Grand Valley State University alum has created something to help.

“Any frontline worker or anyone who feels the need to wear a mask from 30 minutes to an hour, a button headband can provide much needed relief.”

That’s Kat Samardzija and she’s the founder of Locker Lifestyle, which produces athletic clothing with storage pouches.  One of her products was athletic headbands, comfort tested by marathon runners.  Wanting to help somehow in pandemic times, she came up with an idea and recruited her grandmother to help.

“I kept hearing how nurses and other frontline workers were having such irritation on the ears from wearing face masks for long, extended periods of time.  So, she showed me how to sew a button on a headband, and we only did a sample and posted one video, just to see if people would take to it, and it went viral for us.”

Kat says the headband, called the “Headband Aid” or “Button Headband” for women and men has non-slip gel dots and a pocket in the back, to carry money or even a spare mask. Kat produced a video of her headband which went viral-then she, her mom and grandmother got busy. To date, they’ve shipped about 600 all over the country.

“We’ve had nurses and even grocery store workers to pharmacy workers, purchasing them from California to New York.  My team and I were working seven days a week to get them out.”

Kat says GV has a lot to do with her success.  After connecting with Grand Valley’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation she started competing for startup funds. She’s since won 14 pitch competitions which help fund her business. And she’s not done yet. She says stay on the lookout for another product, she hopes to have patented, that will once again, help the public.

Jennifer is an award winning broadcast news journalist with more than two decades of professional television news experience including the nation's fifth largest news market. She's worked as both news reporter and news anchor for television and radio in markets from Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo all the way to San Francisco, California.