Designer who answered the cry for NHS masks with a fighter pilot-inspired model is caught in a red tape dogfight with fabrics firm
- Cambridge-educated designer Julian Hake was told the special fabric needed had been sold abroad, then the fabric could not be adapted to meet standards
- This newspaper has seen a leaked Don and Low email sent earlier this year that said a ‘triple layer’ of MBPP achieves ’99 per cent’ protection – the NHS level
- A shortage of surgical face masks for NHS staff has been blamed for an increased risk to them of catching coronavirus and an overall lack of PPE
- Learn more about how to help people impacted by COVID
When the cry went out for more face masks to protect doctors and nurses from the coronavirus, Julian Hakes designed one within days.
But he immediately ran into a problem: the only major British company that makes the vital fabric for the filter would not sell it to him.
The Cambridge-educated designer and inventor said at first the firm told him it had sold it all abroad, then that the fabric could not be adapted to meet NHS standards.
Engineering consultant Dan Price, who works for a separate textiles company that is also producing a mask, said he got the same negative response when he sought the fabric.
Julian Hakes, architect and designer of the mojito shoe, photographed at his London home
The firm at the centre of the row, Don and Low, insists that its fabric, meltblown polypropylene (MBPP), cannot be adapted for a mask meeting NHS standards – a claim disputed by Mr Hakes and Mr Price.
A shortage of surgical face masks for NHS staff has been blamed for an increased risk to them of catching coronavirus.
At least 15 doctors and nurses have died after contracting the disease Mr Hakes named his fully sealed surgical mask with elastic fasteners the Spitfire – the shape was inspired by the mask used by pilots of the Second World War fighter plane.
The missing component that he – and Mr Price – need for the protective filters is MBPP.
Mr Hakes said the NHS standard for masks requires 99 per cent protection, and this can be achieved with three layers of Don and Low’s fabric.
Prototypes for spitfire pilot inspired mask to prevent Covid 19 designed by Julian Hakes
He added he had done NHS equivalent tests to prove this.
Don and Low, based in Scotland, said he is wrong and insisted a formal NHS test is required.
But this newspaper has seen a leaked Don and Low email sent earlier this year that said a ‘triple layer’ of MBPP achieves ’99 per cent’ protection – the NHS level.
Mr Hakes, 48, said: ‘It is ridiculous to say we must wait for the formal NHS test – that can take up to a year. The virus won’t wait that long. We have created the same test and it passed.
‘In selling our supplies abroad, we have given our best bullets to other countries, leaving NHS heroes on the front line exposed to danger.
British ingenuity can solve it but is being prevented by a corporate and bureaucratic mindset.
A photo of a spitfire pilot wearing a mask that was the inspiration for Hake’s design
‘It is like Dunkirk – we didn’t have enough big ships so the small ones saved us. There are 1,000 sewing machinists in Lancashire alone who would rally round.’
He was echoed by Mr Price, who said: ‘Don and Low told us their books were full until 2021.
They couldn’t or wouldn’t help. It doesn’t feel like much of a national effort.’
Don and Low denied saying it could not supply the fabric until next year because other countries had bought supplies.
The firm’s sales manager Will Campbell said: ‘We had previously thought that three layers will meet the [NHS] standard. Following further development work, it has been established that this is not correct.
‘We are not able to meet the requirement specified by the NHS. If it was possible we would.’
He added the firm was working with other UK companies to find ways of making a fabric that meets NHS standards.
‘We have prioritised healthcare materials and the NHS above any other market,’ said Mr Campbell.