Zara boss pledges protective clothing, donates 300,000 masks and logistics during coronavirus crisis

High street fashion house Zara founder, Amancio Ortega, announced his company will manufacture medical protective clothing, donate 300,000 masks and make his extensive logistics network available to deliver essential emergency supplies in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Zara Owner Starts Making Protective Face Masks To Fight COVID-19

Inditex, owner of the retail store Zara, announced on Wednesday that it will donate masks to coronavirus patients and health officials in Spain. The company says it’s also looking into converting factories to manufacture hospital gowns. Inditex plans on letting the Spanish government use its factories and logistics teams to help produce and deliver medical supplies amid the national shortage.

Zara Owner Inditex to Donate Masks for Coronavirus Patients and Health Workers in Spain

On Wednesday, the Inditex fashion group, parent company of the ubiquitous fast-fashion brand Zara, announced a major push to aid in the fight against the coronavirus. The company, which is based in Galicia, Spain, will make its factories and logistics teams available to the Spanish government to donate much-needed masks for patients and medical workers alike. In a statement from a company representative, Inditex explains that it “will make a delivery at least once a week of materials we purchase directly.”

The statement goes on to say that Inditex has “already donated 10,000 protective face masks and by the end of this week expects to be in a position to ship another 300,000 surgical masks.” Inditex also notes that masks are among the most urgently needed supplies, as indicated by the Spanish health authorities, along with gloves, protective glasses, caps, shoe covers, and face shields.

While the distribution of the masks is well underway, the statement reads that the company is still in the process of sourcing medical grade fabric for hospital gowns, and “investigating the possibility of switching some of our textile-manufacturing capacity over to the production of health materials, involving Inditex’s manufacturing experts to that end.”

Whether or not Inditex will be able to supply additional countries with these materials outside of Spain remains to be seen. But the company should be applauded for its efforts. As the virus continues to spread, it will become more and more important for brands and conglomerates to step up in any way that they can.

Zara closed 3,785 stores globally following the outbreak of coronavirus, however all but 11 have now reopened in China, where no new outbreaks have been reported. The only cases appearing in China now are from Chinese citizens returning home who contracted it elsewhere.

Source: Vogue

Inditex looking into transforming textile factories to produce medical grade protective clothing

Inditex has already donated 10,000 protective face masks and by the end of this week expects to be in a position to ship another 300,000 surgical masks. The company also notes that masks are among the most urgently needed supplies, as indicated by the Spanish health authorities, along with gloves, protective glasses, caps, shoe covers, and face shields.

While the distribution of the masks is well underway, the company is still in the process of sourcing medical grade fabric for hospital gowns, and “investigating the possibility of switching some of our textile-manufacturing capacity over to the production of health materials, involving Inditex’s manufacturing experts to that end.”

Whether or not Inditex will be able to supply additional countries with these materials outside of Spain remains to be seen. But the company should be applauded for its efforts. As the virus continues to spread, it will become more and more important for brands and multinationals to step up in any way that they can.

Source: Telecinco