Steve Milton: Fox 40 scores with a whistle inside a mask
Sport is deep in their business DNA, so they've always recognized sport's most useful tools.
Including, and especially, the pivot.
The new Fox 40 Tri-Layer Whistle Mask - worn by thousands of people around the world including CFL and NFL on-field officials - is an example of the iconic Hamilton manufacturing company knowing when, and how, to quickly shift its feet to move against a forceful opponent.
The whistle mask allows users to keep their choice of Fox 40 whistle right inside a snug-fitting but breathable" waterproof, and reusable, polypropylene mask. With a quick hand touch to the outside of the mask, the whistle can be manoeuvred into the mouth from a swivel on a loop sewn into the mask.
Because of the high-end fabric, the whistle blast registers at 117 decibels, just slightly below the normal unmasked sound blast of 120 decibels, and that difference isn't detectable to the human ear," says Fox 40 International president, Dave Foxcroft.
This is the next stage in an evolution that began in April, 2020 very early in the COVID-19 crisis, when Foxcroft alerted his father and Fox 40 founder, Ron Foxcroft, that the pandemic was likely to last much longer than the few weeks then being predicted. And that, in turn, would threaten the central core of the company's 200-plus products: the famous pea-less Fox 40 whistles.
Dave said that the pandemic was more serious than people thought and we had to pivot right away," Ron Foxcroft recalls.
Various models of the Fox 40 whistle are used in more than 140 countries by sports leagues, officiating associations, search-and-rescue, police and military forces and in personal safety situations. But, an effective whistle requires the kind of strong exhalation considered to aid the virus's mode of transmission.
When you blow a whistle you're spreading droplets and six feet spreads out to 10 feet," Dave Foxcroft acknowledges, so something had to be designed to nullify the expulsion of air and moisture.
Fox 40 immediately teamed with Niko Apparel Systems, another flexible Hamilton company which the pandemic had forced to pivot. Niko was primarily in the team sportswear market so its business was being hit hard but working with Hamilton Health Sciences and McMaster's engineering department, it shifted quickly into making protective masks, and has sold over a million of them.
Together, Fox 40 and Niko collaborated on a pouch" which attached to the whistles and caught the expelled air. That worked for the NHL, which uses Fox 40 whistles and had already told the Foxcrofts they were planning to resume play in a bubble situation. But the NFL and some NCAA football conferences were going to play in the fall and the officials would be wearing masks.
The problem was how do they use a mask and use a whistle, too?" Foxcroft, a veteran CFL referee, said. To cut a hole in a mask and put the whistle through it, kind of goes against the entire idea."
The two companies co-produced a number of prototypes and started with a one-layer fabric mask. They kept redesigning and testing and landed upon the new three-layer version, which is lightweight and washable, seals to facial contours and includes a lanyard and adjustable nose piece.
We worked with McMaster on incorporating better materials for the breathability and filtration," says Nico Apparel owner Joe Camillo.
The Fox 40 whistle masks are black, but during all CFL games the week of Sept. 27 to Oct. 3, officials wore special orange masks to recognize and promote Every Child Matters. That was an idea forwarded to Dave Foxcroft by CFL official, Brian Chrupalo, who is Metis. Chrupalo, a Winnipeg police officer, is the force's designated liaison with Indigenous communities.
The whistle masks are part of Fox 40s Close Vicinity Safety Products line that also includes the protective pouches, a whistle gaiter and three types of hand-held electronic whistles.
The masks ($29.99) are available at most major retail outlets and also online at fox40shop.com. Besides sports applications they're being used by police forces, school teachers, lifeguards and, Dave Foxcroft says, For personal safety. A lot of people put their Fox 40 whistles on a key chain but in areas where you have to wear a mask, for instance an underground parking garage, the whistle is readily available in emergency situations ... when making noise is what's recommended."
Like Camillo, who says the rapid switch to manufacturing masks and other products kept staff working and breathed life" into Niko Apparel, Dave Foxcroft says the whistle masks and similar pandemic-related lines preserved Fox 40s whistle business, which sells 15,000 units per day world wide. More than 20,000 masks were sold in the first year alone and he says the company, hustling to keep up with orders, has hired six new employees.
But in the beginning, it wasn't about profit and loss, it was about safety being paramount," Ron Foxcroft says of the whistle masks. All of our friends and colleagues are coaches or referees, and it was about keeping them safe.
Obviously this is a business story and yes, we've made a profit. But it's also about being innovative and creative."
Steve Milton is a Hamilton-based sports columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: smilton@thespec.com