Maskey - fashionable face masks from a vending machine

by Startacus Admin

Maskey! The startup that's making face masks both fashionable and more accessible...

Masks are the new norm, and they will be for a while. Asian countries in particular are already well known for the familiar sight of people going about their business wearing a mask; if someone feels a cold coming on, they pull on a mask to make sure they don’t spread it to the people around them.

What we are all currently trying to prevent spreading is something far worse than a cold, and yet too many people are refusing to wear masks. But the more normal we make wearing masks, the easier and more convenient we make getting masks, and the more trendy (is that still a hip and happening word to use?) we make the masks, the more people will stop being dangerously selfish and dimwitted and start wearing masks.

One of the many doing their part to help with all of this is Essex-based startup Maskey. The idea for Maskey was born in May and 3 weeks later, the startup was selling high-quality, fashionable face masks, designed and manufactured by a suit-maker.

The idea of these double-layer cotton masks is not only to provide the obvious protection for the wearer and those around them, but also to give people a range of patterns and colours to help make their mask a fashion statement (the statement being, “I want to fashionably keep you alive”).

More notable than simply making the masks is that Maskey has put them in vending machines for people to buy on the spot all around the UK and Scotland, including in the likes of Hamleys, with locations growing all the time.

Particularly with masks about to become mandatory when shopping, vending machines for people to buy quality masks for a good price (their site shows that a basic mask is around £7, with others snaking into very low double figures), with contactless payment, could literally save a life.

The website goes into more detail about how safety is taken into account when making the masks, but precautions include the workers wearing masks and gloves, and the masks going from their hands into 90-degree steaming and then straight into plastic wrapping.

The vending machines are free to install for venues that need them, and you will be paid a percentage of every sale. More importantly, 10% of profits from every sale go to Lenderhand, a charity currently supporting the NHS, and individuals and families in need during the pandemic.

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Published on: 19th July 2020