Hello and welcome to Frogmask,
Here is the summarized story of the creation of my brand of bicycle and motorcycle masks Frogmask, available in a longer version in the blog.
The anti-pollution mask market is not really unknown to me because from 2014 to 2020 I used to distribute Vogmask, the well known American face mask brand, in France, Switzerland and Belgium. In 7 years, I have strongly developed the brand with numerous resellers such as cycle stores, around fifteen Decathlon stores, pharmacies, Au Vieux Campeur, and most of cycling websites.
Unfortunately, due to Covid crisis, Vogmasks, which are produced in South Korea, were banned from export from mid-February 2020 til July 1st. Then the brand owner informed me, in May, via a simple email, that she would no longer deliver to me having decided to withdraw from Europe to better serve the American domestic market. Game was over !
I had to find a solution to satisfy the exploding demand as part of the Covid crisis, so I decided to create Frogmask, my own brand of cycling face masks. To remedy the emergency, I looked for and found quality masks where they were available, namely in Italy for barrier masks and in China for Biker masks and PM 2.5 masks.
Why Frogmask? Because the Anglo-Saxons call French people "frogs" or "froggies". I thought this friendly little animal makes a pretty logo. Frog also rhymes with Fog which means smoke in English.
I wanted to produce my Frogmask anti-pollution masks in France, hence the signature “made in Frogland” to differentiate themselves a little. It was a real long-distance race that I ran because I had to find :
- The best Mesh fabric in reasonable quantities
- The filters to the FFP2 standard
- The manufacturing workshop agreeing to make the technical drawings and assemble a few prototypes to make the tests
- Create the packaging (Marseille creative agency and Parisian printer)
- Visuals for marketing
All in a context of shortages and widespread teleworking due to the pandemic. Only the filters were sourced in China because unfortunately none of the rare French manufacturers agreed to make me tailor-made for 10,000 pieces per order. The good news is that in November 2023, I found an Italian manufacturer who agreed to bet on Frogmask. The French are still as psychorigid as ever, bad times for them! The new filters now come from the Pisa region and their breathability is even better than that of Chinese masks for a much better carbon footprint!
The result is just superb, isn’t it?
After 2 years of operation, the brand entered large bikeparts websites such as Alltricks, Lecyclo.com or Fnac but also Cardy for motorcycles. In December 2022, Decathlon opened the doors of its market place in the bicycle masks section. I also sell all over Europe via this website. On the export side, several distributors are in discussions with me, including a Chinese one, which would be an achievement. Selling masks to the Chinese is a bit like selling fridges to the Eskimos, isn’t it?
The quality of customer service is and will remain my top priority because a satisfied customer becomes my best ambassador (see ratings and comments customers at the bottom of the home page). This is why I pay particular attention to sending out the masks on the day of the order (if placed before 5 p.m.) and to making any size exchanges. Be careful to choose the right size by following the instructions according to your body shape. A mask is not a piece of clothing, the sizes may be different. I also undertake to answer your questions during the day, 7 days a week by telephone, email, Instagram, messenger or Facebook.
Grégoire Dandres
