Fashion Brand Launches Hoodie With In-Built Face Mask Which Isn’t Protective. Erm, Why Would We Buy That?
Most of last year’s fashion trends revolved around one single theme—the pandemic—and it became fairly evident to us how effortlessly and creatively the industry could adapt to the toughest of times. Taking inspiration from coronavirus outbreak and its impacts, the designers and brands came up with imaginative solutions to cater to the customers in the best possible way. This includes the launch of anti-virus fabrics, face mask accessories and even clothes with an in-built face mask. Fashion brand PrettyLittleThing was the first one to drop a mask dress that extended its turtleneck into a face covering which became quite a rage, especially after Kate Moss’s sister Lottie Moss was spotted wearing that dress. Seems like they have mastered the category because they extended this line to a mask hoodie.
To think about it, this is one pretty functional fashion invention since you’d basically never forget your mask at home (it’s been almost a year but seems like we’ll never learn). Plus, when you want to give yourself and your ears a break and take your mask off to breathe, you won’t have to worry about losing it or contaminating everything since it would be casually hanging on your chest until you are ready to wear it again.
However, the brand has claimed that this hoodie with an in-built mask doesn’t provide any medical benefits and is no more than a fashion accessory. The product description reads, “Please note that this mask is not personal protective equipment, PrettyLittleThing do not claim any medical benefits of using this product. Therefore please still follow and practice all relevant social distancing guidelines.” Um, Okay?
Thoughts? https://t.co/3jEpRJ3bvG
— Metro Lifestyle (@MetroUK_Life) January 14, 2021
Tell me this, why would we want to wear a face covering which isn’t even protecting us from the germs and viruses? Wasn’t that the whole point of forcing yourself to suffocate under a piece of fabric? That we’d stay alive? Plus, am I supposed to take another mask with me when I am wearing this hoodie? This just doesn’t add up and makes it sort of redundant addition, to be honest. Maybe it’s just for the ‘gram? Face masks elevated from being simply a survival tool to becoming a statement fashion accessory. We saw a bevy of stylish face coverings like embellished, graphic and matching masks sold with outfits. And, this mask hoodie is another extension of the face mask trend, albeit slightly useless.
A lot of other fashion brands have also introduced similar styles including the Indian fashion e-commerce company Myntra, which has a mask hoodie launched under its in-house brand Roadster. The hoodied sweatshirt with an in-built face mask is a brilliant idea, and we definitely want to see more brands dropping these as long as they are practical and do the job. However, unless they perform the basic function of filtering the air droplets and keeping you safe from getting infected, we are not sure why we would want to cover our faces, no matter how cute and chic they are. The mask is priced at £16 which is about INR 1590 and is available in two colours, grey and black. Although this mask hoodie does fulfil the purpose of fashun, it’s a hard pass from us until it comes with thicker, multiple layers.
