Clothing brand produces cloth masks amid equipment shortage

A well-known South African clothing brand has switched its production line to making cloth masks in response to government’s request for everyone to join the fight against the spread of the coronavirus.

Production Director, Bobby Fairlamb, says the aim is also to get earnings for machinists who work on a small-scale.

Fairlamb says they are producing about 16 000 cloth masks per day with the hope of increasing the number to 20 000 in the coming weeks.

“The way we are achieving that is that through the design of this mask we are able to create a starter pack that we can give to our CMTs. That is the cut, make and trim businesses and they can come get starter packs from us and start making face masks, 10 people can make 2 000 masks from us, giving them an opportunity to put bread on the table because this time people are not making any money,” says Fairlamb.

Meanwhile, a small-scale entrepreneur in Gugulethu on the Cape Flats is making her contribution to the fight against coronavirus.

The founder of the enterprise, Lulu Nongogo, says she’s making fabric masks which target local clinics to distribute to patients.

She says the aim is to also educate the community about cautionary measures against the virus.

“Most people are not negligent but they don’t know, so we are not just issuing masks. What we’re doing is to educate them and also give masks to them, the reason being imagine people who cant afford a loaf of bread of R18, how will they afford to buy a mask. So we decided let’s do the fabric masks that you can wash on a daily basis,” says Nongogo.

In the video, cloth masks are produced to assist amid the shortage of protective equipment

The infographic below gives guidelines to protect against COVID-19