After a long hiatus, I'm back with another adventure in sports masks!
Along with t-shirts, sweats, and patches, clubs now have a new place to put their logo: in house-branded masks. Full disclosure: this one is from my home club. My coach found it through a wholesaler that designed this mask for use by basketball players: a sport that doesn't require a heavy mask worn over it.
So of course I had to test to see if it could work under the sweatier, messier confines of a fencing mask.
Specs:
Filter Pocket: no
Ear loops or ties: ties - extremely sturdy ties of doubled-over bias tape
Nose wire: no
Sizes: one
Fashionable? Plain, black, elegant, with logo in the corner, this goes with all your sports gear (but probably pairs best with other RFA-branded items).
How is it on the strip?
Test run: 100 lunges against target wearing this mask under my fencing mask.
This mask has minimal shaping and 2 sets of ties make the fit easy to customize. Once I found a configuration that worked it had the best fit with the least interference with low-line visibility that I've tried yet!
There's no filter pocket but the fit is tight enough to hold one in place - it didn't shift at all. The mask stayed tied on when I put on and took off my fencing mask. Still no nose wire, but when I added one of my stick-ons there was absolutely no fogging of my glasses, a definite plus in my book.
The fabric is thin enough that I recommend a filter, but I did have problems breathing through it. This suggests the fabric isn't designed to breathe, at least not with the extra filtering I require for confident use.
Verdict:
Pro: flexibility of fit, sturdy ties, subtle style
Con: thin fabric, no nose wire or filter pocket, breathing difficulties
