Fashion Roundtable Secure Masks and Personal Protective Clothing for the NHS
Although the fashion industry is facing an unprecedented financial crisis brought on by the global lockdown, it stands united in its contribution to the coronavirus relief efforts. From pivoting factory production to make hand sanitisers and protective masks to making charitable donations to severely affected communities, the industry has swiftly redirected its resources to help those who are in urgent need.
As an organisation, Fashion Roundtable facilitate collaboration between the worlds of politics and fashion; bridging the gap between policy makers and creative leaders. In the past few weeks, our role quickly became vital to facilitating conversations between UK government and manufacturers with the capacity to produce masks and personal protective clothing for the NHS and wider public. As the pandemic worsened, it became clear that such protective equipment was in dangerously short supply and, in turn, was putting many lives at risk. PPE is equipment that will protect the user against infection risks while working with patients— it includes items such as filtering masks, gloves, disposable plastic aprons and eye protection like spectacles or visors.
To secure an end-to-end procurement and delivery strategy for PPE, Fashion Roundtable have been lobbying back and forth with the UK Government. Led by CEO Tamara Cincik, our solution pathway to resolve this shortage of vital equipment has a two-pronged approach.
Firstly, Kate Hills (founder of Make It British) is uniting UK manufacturers to produce the PPE for frontline staff under the name The British Textiles Consortium. “We are working on finding all of the UK manufacturers that can switch production to provide an end-to-end solution for PPE that is made locally” says Kate Hills.“Whilst the government is currently concentrating on importing these products, this is a short-term solution. Once these resources dry up, which they will do as global demand increases, we will need to tap into the manufacturing base that we have in the UK. We have had amazing support from a diverse range of manufacturers and I have every confidence that the UK textile industry is able to adapt and be agile enough to cope with the challenges ahead.”
And secondly, designer Phoebe English is leading a team of independent UK designers, including Bethany Williams and Holly Fulton, to produce non-front line protective clothing with the Emergency Designer Network. “PPE is in urgent need” says Phoebe English, “each day that passes more and more requests come in, we are making a network of at home makers who can aim to fulfil short term needs for key workers as a voluntary endeavour called Emergency Designer Network.”
Fashion Roundtable are honoured to facilitate this vital production network for PPE, which is so urgently needed by key workers. Using our unique position between government and the fashion industry, we have ensured this immediate manufacture is signed off and the equipment will be delivered. In turn, we believe this could be a sea change for bringing textiles production back to the UK. We have, of course, ensured that all manufacturers are paid properly for this production.