United Airlines is Making Face Masks from Old Crew Uniforms

United Airlines said it has upcycled old employee uniforms into 7,500 face coverings that were distributed to the airline’s employees at San Francisco International Airport and at the airline’s San Francisco Maintenance Base.

The 7,500 masks took 12,284 pounds of uniforms to make, working with Looptworks, an upcycling company. The airline said it had originally planned to turn the uniforms into carpet padding and insulation fiber.

“Recycling these unused uniforms into masks is a natural extension of our broader effort to overhaul our cleaning, social distancing and mitigation measures to ensure we’re doing everything possible to keep our employees and our customers safe,” said Janet Lamkin, a United senior vice president.

United was the first U.S. airline back in April to require flight attendants to wear face masks amidst the coronavirus pandemic while on duty and expanded that requirement to all employees in May.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)