WINDSOR, ONT. -- The Suit Shop Co Ltd. in Windsor is using fashion to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The “Your Dress Shirt Can Save Lives Facemask Challenge” is turning donated cotton dress shirts into personalized facemasks.

“They’re 100% cotton, reusable and re-washable,” says Lazaros Dimitriou, owner of the Suit Shop Co Ltd.

Their goal is to make 500 masks that will be donated to the Windsor Regional Hospital for staff and visitors who don’t work directly with patients.

“That way the N-95 masks can be kept for the front-line hospital workers who are battling with the coronavirus every day and are saving lives,” says Dimitriou.

Each shirt can be sewn into at least five masks. “We’ve made a least a dozen a day.”

New or lightly-used 100 per cent cotton dress shirts can be donated through a drop-off basket in front of the store at 593 Erie St. from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily until April 30.