St Andrews students' new venture ships 180,000 masks to Scotland at cost price

A initiative started by two University of St Andrews students to provide masks to the Scottish public at cost price has now shipped nearly 180,000 of the items after it launched about a fortnight ago.

From left: Cogan Wade and Frederik Filz von Reiterdank. Picture: contributed.

The Mask Bros project is the work of Frederik Filz von Reiterdank and Cogan Wade, who set out to tackle price gougers. The idea started when they were looking to buy protective items for StudentsAgainstCorona, a volunteering charity they started two months ago. They quickly discovered that masks were hard to come by – and prices could be sky high, with some sellers charging four times cost price.

Filz von Reiterdank said: “We would have never expected to receive so many orders. We’ve received some wonderful feedback about our initiative so far. It has really motivated us to keep going and we will not stop until all of Scotland has the necessary PPE [personal protective equipment] they deserve.

"It is interesting to see how high demand is still increasing. It shows that the Scottish public is quickly realising how important it is to protect not just yourself but also those around you and is willing to make the effort."

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