NEW YORK — Sustainable fashion advocate Shannon Lohr has launched the Mask Project, an effort to mobilize companies, including apparel and textile manufacturers, to help mitigate the shortage of medical masks for health care workers.

The Mask Project connects manufacturers to hospitals in need. The manufacturers create 100% cotton masks for non-COVID patient care, thereby freeing FDA-compliant medical masks (e.g. N95) for use in treating patients with COVID-19 symptoms.

Since its creation on March 22, 2020, The Mask Project has received requests from over 900 hospitals across the country. The project has also received interest from more than 200 American manufacturers that are collectively able to produce over two million masks per month. To compliment the effort, JOANN Fabrics has committed to donating thousands of yards of fabric to produce the masks.

The missing piece of the project is funding for the sewers needed to produce the masks, according to Lohr, the founder of a Factory45, a business accelerator for sustainable fashion entrepreneurs. The Mask Project is seeking strategic partners and monetary sponsors to fund mask production to employ the workers needed to fulfill the requests. Corporate partners with The Mask Project will receive  brand exposure, with their company logos printed on more than 2 million masks, as well as through media coverage, social sharing and philanthropic publicity.

Interested companies should visit www.requestmasks.com or contact The Mask Project founder Shannon Lohr by email at [email protected].