Engineers helping health workers - Isle of Wight

The fashion industry is not renown for it's environmental and ethical credentials. And it's not one that I would have immediately thought of when I consider which industries would help in the Corona crisis. And I probably would also not have thought of the tourism industry or a recruitment company!

However, three companies on the Isle of Wight -  Rapanui clothing (who run their clothing factory using Raspberry Pi computers, Robin Hill Country Park (sister park to Blackgang Chine - which uses Raspberry Pi computers in their robot dinosaurs (See my podcast on them!) and Isle of Wight Jobs (who do not yet use Raspberry Pi computers, but have expressed interest now I've mentioned them) have worked together to provide desperately needed clothing to be used as scrubs for local Carers during the current Covid19 pandemic.

Reuben Loake, Managing Director of the recruitment company Isle of Wight Jobs asked Rapanui if they had any spare material or clothing available to use as scrubs for care workers. Rapanui immediately agreed to release a container full of high-quality clothing to any healthcare provider that needed it.

Mr Loake then posted on the Isle of Wight Jobs Facebook group that there was clothing available and soon received calls from over twenty care providers desperately needing disposable garments such as T-Shirts as well as over a hundred local people offering to help sew the garments into scrub trousers, scrub bags and headbands.

Mr Loake said, “It soon became clear there was an urgent need for disposable clothing in the care sector and we needed to act fast. If a care worker comes into contact with someone displaying symptoms, they should ideally be able to change their clothes before visiting another client”

Mr Loake then contacted the team at Robin Hill who offered to become the distribution centre for the operation. As well as providing volunteers to help sort through the items they also transported over 100 boxes of garments from the factory to their park. 

Distribution Centre at Robin Hill - using the currently closed cafeteria! 

But not only have Rapanui helped with the scrubs - island-based community group Crab Niton contacted them asking for material to make masks. Rapanui's products are made from natural materials and everything they make is designed from the start to be sent back when it is worn out. They make new material from the old material - which is why they were able to quickly provide for both the scrubs and the masks projects. 

 Mask made from a Rapanui Tshirt by one of the CRAB-Niton volunteers

I spoke with with Mart Drake-Knight, the co-founder of Rapanu, and he told me that one of their staff, Adam, who normally builds robots in the factory, took all the company's 3D printers home, so he could set up a 24 hour print farm to print PPE for the local NHS.

 

Rapanui produces T-shirts on demand - and they make the "Thank you NHS design" - with all profits going to NHS charities. They also make the body coach Joe Wickes' fundraising Tshirts - and when he mentioned them on in one of his workouts - with over a million viewers - Rapanui's Raspberry Pi computers nearly melting due to the high demand!