Fabric face mask, 'Hero Face Cover with elastic strap' made by English Fine Cottons. Pleated blue herringbone cotton shirting fabric, with elastic ear loops. Made and sold by English Fine Cottons during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021); £2.50 donated to NHS Charities for every face mask sold. Yarn spun by English Fine Cottons in Dukinfield, yarn dyed in Blackburn, shirting fabric woven in Burnley or Devon, mask sewn by English Fine Cottons in Dukinfield.

Based in a Victorian cotton-spinning mill in Dukinfield, Tower Mill, English Fine Cottons was established in 2016 to bring commercial cotton spinning back to the UK. The company drew on Dukinfield’s heritage as a centre of cotton spinning production from the late eighteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, utilising the local population’s skills in textiles production.

On 5th June 2020, Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock announced that all hospital visitors and outpatients would need to wear a face covering. This was in addition to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps’ announcement on 4th June that from 15th June all passengers on public transport would need to wear a face covering. The government stressed that the face coverings to be worn by the public should not be surgical masks in order to preserve supplies for health staff.

This blue herringbone Hero Face Cover is made using a slightly adapted design developed in partnership with an NHS surgeon at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. It uses English Fine Cotton’s luxury shirting fabric with cotton jersey for the trim and straps.