Prickly Thistle Scotland, the only tartan weaving mill in the Highlands of Scotland, has launched the Mask of Integrity, the first face mask subscription service for 100% natural fibre fabric, tailored to fit, reusable masks, that are filtration tested to help the community fight against the pandemic.

Clare Campbell of Prickly Thistle teamed up with the Edinburgh based Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) to test the particle filtration and fit of the wool face mask design so that the final refined product completely covers the nose and mouth and can be confidently presented to the community for optimal protection.

Ross Clark, Head of Occupational Hygiene at the Institute of Occupational Medicine, said: “This project has been an exciting collaboration. To optimise the product fit Prickly Thistle Scotland made modifications on-site at the IOM lab working closely with our team of Face Fit Testers. The IOM team were able to demonstrate the filtration abilities of the material, and how the natural materials shaped to wearers’ faces well.”

The Mask of Integrity will be available for pre-order by mid-October for delivery to the community in November. It is said to offer customers the guarantee of:

•          the first UK filtration tested wool face mask that is designed for community use

•          tailored to fit face profile

•          mask cloth made from 100% natural fibres

•          washable at a high temperature, 60+ degrees

•          reusable and renewable subscription service

•          all recovered masks will be recycled, fighting the plastic pandemic at the same time

The user customised subscription service will equip each customer with two reusable masks and the regular replacement schedule of these will be dependent on their usage habits. Prickly Thistle is working with Zero Waste Scotland to ensure that all the masks returned as part of this subscription service will be recovered and repurposed.

The Mask of Integrity launches at a time when the government calls for widespread use of face coverings in public to reduce COVID-19 community infections, Prickly Thistle says. “There is heightened fear that coronavirus cases will surge when the seasons change since respiratory illnesses tend to thrive during cooler weather conditions. Despite these concerns and the World Health Organisation’s guidance on the layering and filtration standards for non-medical masks, there is still no standard pattern or quality test being used by makers to ensure that the face coverings are serving their purpose,” the company adds.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Clare and her team at Prickly Thistle have been progressing research and developing the Mask of Integrity as a solution for the unregulated mask market. 

Clare Campbell, Founder and Director of Prickly Thistle, commented: ““On day one of lockdown in Scotland, I got to work on contacting everyone I knew in the textiles industry, celebrities and politicians who were in a position to influence the immediate action of ensuring every single person in Scotland could have a mask. Despite our best efforts, this hasn’t been fully acknowledged by the Government yet.”

“This has not stopped us, we have continued to strive for a multi-faceted solution. The pandemic has taken our passion and commitment to a whole other level to help others. I truly believe businesses have a responsibility to be positive activists in what we do.”

“Over the last six months, Prickly Thistle has been bombarded with requests for a natural fibre mask, and I could not morally produce these without the confidence in their effectiveness. We did donate 1000 masks during that time, made from kilt lining cotton cloth, with nose pinch wires, an added filter insert pocket and adjustable straps. These were sent to the far north of Scotland, a little island off Orkney to NHS staff commuting in London.”

“Now that we have a fully tested sustainable face mask, we can start to mobilise the supply chain and wider Scottish textile industry to meet the pre-order demand. From the yarn suppliers and weavers to the finishers and seamstresses, this is a collaborative endeavour. We have evidenced that the production of the Mask of Integrity has the power to stimulate the green economic recovery of our industry.”

The durability of the 100% natural fibre cloth for the Mask of Integrity is based on key learnings from the woven sail craftsmanship of the Viking age, Clare says. Shewas inspired after reading The Golden Thread written by Kassia St Clair and connected with Professor Donna Heddle, Director of the University of the Highlands and Islands institute for Northern Studies to further explore this.

PTS - The mask of integrity from Scene-It on Vimeo.

Professor Donna Heddle, Director of the University of the Highlands and Islands institute for Northern Studies said: “The Vikings were the finest sailors since the Phoenicians and their ships were models of efficient and resilient construction. We can only marvel at the quality and durability of their sails, created by the women usually over the winter. Research based on the  reconstruction  of the five scuttled Viking ships found in  Roskilde Fjord in Denmark by the Viking Ship Museum of Roskilde show that the Viking woollen cloth sails have far greater longevity than the later linen ones, such as those found on the late medieval ship Vasa, and adapt and cope with weather conditions much more effectively.”

To pre-register your interest in ordering the Mask of Integrity, please follow this link: https://pricklythistlescotland.com/mask-of-integrity/moi-pre-order.  

For businesses and organisations interested in joining the supply chain for the mask of integrity, Prickly Thistle is looking to build its network of yarn producers, weavers, finishers and seamstresses. Further information can be found here - https://pricklythistlescotland.com/mask-of-integrity/moi-supply-chain  

https://pricklythistlescotland.com