Together Against Corona

01.04.2020, Plattling

• Textile makeshift protective masks
• Produced in the clothing clinic
• Cooperation with the district of Deggendorf

Equipment for protection against Covid-19 is at a shortfall worldwide. Many German companies have reacted quickly and changed their production, and FineCom clothing clinic is no exception. We will also produce mouth protection masks from now on, the managing director Franz S. Alt answers how this came about.

Mr Alt, you are currently at one of your locations in Plattling, is that correct?

“Yes, that is correct. A few weeks ago we sent all employees who were not urgently needed at the factory to work from home. However, my sister Alexandra Alt, who manages the Plattling site, and I are on site. This is important to us as we already implemented the first measures to protect our employees in February. We did not expect the infection rate in Europe to rise so rapidly and so high but luckily we took immediate action and implemented a series of preventive measures.”

Many German companies have switched production because of the crisis, breweries producing alcohol for disinfectants and clothing companies manufacturing protective clothing. You are a logistics company that specializes in eCommerce Fulfillment, why did you change your production?

“Part of the measures were and still are strict hygiene and clearance regulations at our sites. We had great difficulty in obtaining disinfectants – and it was expensive and mouth and nose protection masks were no longer available. That was the first time I thought of my own protective masks: what is better suited for production than our FineCom clothing clinic? After all, we have everything on site that is needed for sewing and manufacturing textiles – even personnel! We just didn’t know which methods and which fabrics were suitable for protective masks.”

Then came the call from Bavaria’s Deputy Minister President.

“Yes, our HR manager saw Hubert Aiwanger’s appeal. He has procured suitable material, instructions and samples for the production of makeshift protective masks and made them available to every district in Bavaria. She immediately called the city of Deggendorf.“

And you immediately received enough material for 5000 masks.

“That’s great because, as a specialist for textiles in logistics, we already have experience with medical textiles – but we didn’t want to produce protective products that weren’t up to standard. With official instructions and verified fabric (non-woven, certified mask material FFP 2/FFP 3 quality) for single use, our team at the clothing clinic can now get started. In case our seamstresses run out of fabric, we have contacted our customers from the textile industry as in the clothing clinic there are many high quality fabrics from you, with which we originally did the refurbishing for you. Masks with these fabrics can also be reused after special cleaning.”

What happens next?

“It’s great, many well-known model labels have immediately provided us with their fabrics. There are some fancy, colourful patterns and I am honestly pleased that besides white, our masks are also available in colour. I think colour will do us all good right now! The first masks with the material of the district go back to the city of Deggendorf, any further masks made of customer-owned materials will be used to protect our employees. And if the demand continues to be so great, we are thinking about putting them up for sale. I am proud to contribute productively to the fight against Corona with FineCom. Of course, with the protective masks we are also helping ourselves and securing our jobs. As a service provider for eCommerce fulfillment and logistics, we are currently in great demand. Nevertheless, we don’t know whether the flow of goods will break off at some point and we would like to be prepared for that as well.”

Note: This is a makeshift mouth and nose protector, despite official governmental instructions, it does not correspond to the standardized mouth-nose protector and is used as an aid.