LOVELAND, Colo. – Everyone dreams of that moment when their idea becomes a commodity. When the pandemic came to the US, it was surprising to Logan Martinez, owner and maker of the brand Junque Food, that this commodity happened to be handmade face masks.
Starting out as selling second-hand products on online platforms such as Poshmark, eBay and Mercari, Martinez found herself unable to continue with her traditional form of business when COVID-19 hit, shutting down thrift stores and making it more difficult to source products. It was time to pivot.
“When the pandemic hit, I stopped sourcing secondhand clothes. Stores were shut down and the safety of my family was more important than continuing down that path,” said Martinez. “I began making and donating masks to local organizations as a form of therapy and I shared that journey with my Instagram followers. Once masks were being required for all people in public settings, I began to get requests to purchase the masks I was making from followers. I was even getting DMs from local companies to make orders of 100 masks when masks weren’t readily available during the shortage.”
In 2020, Martinez began posting the fun packaging behind Junque Food – a simple popcorn bag filled with masks, fun stickers and a card – on TikTok and began to go viral for her packaging videos (one video reached over 1.1 million views). Junque Food took off quickly with mask and scrunchie sets, which continues to be the number one seller.
“The packaging idea was actually what sparked the idea for the name Junque Food,” Martinez said. “I wanted to ship my products with stickers and a card that had junk food on it. My first card looked like a hot sauce packet that said, ‘You look HOT in those jeans.’ I thought it was pretty clever.”
As the mask market surged, Martinez began looking at alternatives for her handmade items and is now launching a line of adult and children’s accessories. A line of headbands, scrunchies, scrunchlets (aka scrunchie keychains), hair bows and of course masks and mask subscription kits are now available on junque-food.com.
“Everything that I’ve done in my business has led me to this pivotal moment,” Martinez said. “My passion was sewing long before this all happened and now I can continue to make products for inspiring babes long after the pandemic is gone.”
Junque Food accessories are available now on junque-food.com. For more information, visit junque-food.com.
Images: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DrA0yUyF47ecSfRKCcOJkaiKAeaUiEvH?usp=sharing
About Junque Food:
With a fun spin on the idea of junk being just a little bit classier, Junque Food focuses on making gorgeous handmade fabric accessories in Loveland, Colo. and packages items in snack packaging (who would dare call macarons, movie popcorn or treats a type of junk food? We think not.) Products are fabric based, handmade goods for sassy, classy babes, both big and small.
To learn more about our products, visit junque-food.com or email us at Logan@junque-food.com.
Junque that feeds the soul.
Contact:
Logan Martinez
(970) 901-9905
logan@junque-food.com