Mask manufacturer hits 5m milestone

Longridge-based Stealth Mask has sold five million masks since it launched in 2017, and at the height of the pandemic was shipping out 100,000 units per week.

The company launched as a spinout from Air Filtration Solutions, which designs and manufactures air filters which reduce and capture contaminants in medical devices.

Stealth Mask specialises in the manufacture of professional grade facemasks and filters and its latest innovation, the Clarity FFP3, features a transparent anti-fog window to aid communication between colleagues which was developed following reports by clinicians that traditional facemasks make it challenging to communicate clearly with colleagues, elderly patients or people with learning disabilities, hearing impairments or other more complex care requirements.

The new masks are the culmination of almost a year of research and development, including working alongside the Allied Health Research Unit at the University of Central Lancashire and focus groups with keyworkers from a range of sectors. 

Stealth Mask now exports its products to 22 countries including the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Germany. The family-owned business employs 120 at its 8,000 sq ft headquarters and is moving to a larger site in the city next year as it continues to grow its range of products and services in the PPE sector. 

Clients include the NHS, Screwfix, Toolstation and Howdens. Stealth Mask’s own range of eight certified products are used daily on construction sites, hospitals, farms and industrial premises all over the world. 

David Wood, sales director at Stealth Mask (pictured), said: "We’ve been in the facemask business since well before the pandemic started so we’ve had a head start on research and development compared to newcomers in the market. Our heritage of designing and developing air filters to the medical sector also gives us a tremendous advantage and the fact that we’re making them here in the United Kingdom, in the heart of Lancashire, is a sign of trust and quality to the rest of the world.

"During the peak of the pandemic, we were shipping out 100,000 facemasks a week, not just to large organisations but to small businesses and consumers too. Since then, public and private sector organisations around the world have established more robust procurement methods to ensure that they aren’t caught short for PPE equipment and facemasks in particular for their employees."

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