Echoes In The Attic, a vegan and eco-friendly fashion and accessory line based out of Bradford, has added non-medical masks to their product line.
Their first batch of masks were released earlier this week and sold out in 15 minutes, but more will be made available this weekend.
"We are re-tooling for mask production for the next while," said co-owner Laura Lagevin.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the company took a firm stance that they did not have the appropriate fabrics and could not supply frontline workers with medical-grade masks.
"We shifted our thinking with the government's suggestion to wear them to go about any outings for regular public," said Langevin.
"Only now that it is recommended to wear them to go about your day in public, gathering essential goods and because it will be this way for the foreseeable future, we had to start rooting through our rescued textiles."
The company, established in 2005 by Langevin and Vicky Gerke, handmake all their fashion bags and accessories using excess materials from landfill-bound designer textiles and vegan leather. Together, they have been able to rescue and save 120 tons of diverted designer textiles and vegan leather to create beautiful, one-of-a-kind, eco-friendly, vegan handbags, pillows, and accessories.
"Because not all our fabric is appropriate for masks, we leaned heavily on Vicky's personal stash of quilting fabric until we could do a deep dive into our Echoes fabric to find what we needed."
Langevin noted that the masks are not medical-grade, and are designed to be used for personal use only. In addition to using their masks, she reminds people to continue to stay home as often as possible, wash their hands and practice physical distancing.
To check out their new line of masks, and other eco-friendly accessories, visit the website here.
