Hyderabad: In a bid to encourage the use of facemasks, 132-year-old Maqdoom Brothers, a cloth retail showroom located at Madina, embarked on an innovative initiative. A ten-feet mannequin has been set up in front of the store, which is not only attracting customers, but also creating awareness on the use of facemasks.
“This is an effort to portray the importance of face masks and its relentless fight against the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic,” the owners of the store said.
“The ten-feet mannequin is one of its kind,” Abid Mohiuddin, one of the three brothers who own the store, says. The mannequin is dressed in a blazer and a trouser, both of them efficiently stitched by using 250 surgical masks. It cost them over three lakhs.
Another brother, Faiz Mohiuddin, shares the idea behind this initiative. “Wearing a mask and maintaining physical distance is the only preventive measures to protect ourselves from this dreaded virus. This was the best way to make our customers and passers-by realize the importance of mask.”
“The huge size of the mannequin must inspire others to don a mask,” he adds. Every other mannequin in the store is masked too.
Even as the lockdown is no longer in force and several restrictions have been lifted, the risk of a second wave of COVID-19 is persistent. “Even after vaccination, experts suggest that people must wear masks. That is why we have come out with this unique giant-size mask man a week ago,” Faiz explains.
