Start Of The Mask Economy

Even the most unconventional businesses, such as a Cape Town candy shop, are selling masks to face off the economic crisis.

- Tiana Cline

In less than three weeks, proudlysa’s newly-launched online portal for local manufacturers of masks hit 400 sellers. Collectively, these mask-makers have the capacity to produce around 14 million masks per week, says ProudlySA’s Deryn Graham, and those are only the manufacturers registered to the clothing sector’s National Bargaining Council.

Masks are a necessary accessory in the fight to prevent Covid-19 from spreading and companies around the world are shifting their core operations to crank out personal protection equipment (PPE).

Besides high-end designer brands like Louis Vuitton and Chanel now making eye-catching masks, many African businesses are pivoting their core operations to keep their businesses afloat.

“I decided to make masks purely to access a new revenue stream. I had been able to sell my socks online during the first level of lockdown, but I wasn’t authorized to ship them as they weren’t classified ‘essential goods’,” explains Chelsey Wilson, FEAT. sock co.’s co-founder and designer from Cape Town. What was holding Wilson back, initially, was that she didn’t want to make masks using generic, store-bought fabric.