MASK ON
Phoebe English is using surplus fabric to make protective face masks
Top image: Phoebe English FW20
Already this week, we’ve seen a series of fashion heavy-hitters do their bit to fight the coronavirus pandemic. It started with a series of huge donations from the likes of Bulgari, Kering and LVMH, and continued with LVMH using its perfume facilities to create mass quantities of hand sanitiser.
Yesterday, Pyer Moss announced a series of small business loans to support struggling creatives, and then turned its NYC office into a medical donation centre. Now, it’s the turn of Phoebe English.
The designer has been using Instagram to figure out how best to help, and yesterday settled on using surplus fabrics and sewing machines to make protective face masks for people and organisations running low. “We have machinery that can be of use to make additional face masks,” she wrote. “Do you know of any organisations that are running low on stocks on medical masks that we could help to restock?” Much of this surplus fabric is ‘deadstock’ collected from factories across London, which would have been otherwise destined for landfill.
Prior to this, English posted a simple callout for South London (SE8 specifically) residents in need of help, asking them to DM her with specifics. “We can try and help bring things to you, not everyone can do online shopping or has family close by,” read the caption. She also redirected those in need to Mutual Aid, which regularly lists Facebook groups and crisis funds emerging to support those in need.