WOLFORD PRODUCES FACE MASKS AND DONATES TO FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19
Wolford has rearranged production in its headquarters in Bregenz and factory in Slovenia to produce face masks in the fight against COVID-19. Additionally, Wolford is currently managing the donations from main shareholder Fosun to healthcare-related institutions in Italy and Austria as part of the Fosun Global Anti-Virus Relief Scheme.
Wolford produces face masks for employees and consumers
Since the beginning of March, the brand’s production facilities at the headquarters in Bregenz, Austria and in Slovenia work full speed on producing face masks for its employees in critical regions and consumers.
The masks are made of a double-layered high-quality breathable fabric to ensure easy breathing when they are worn. Their completely water-repellent finishing provides full coverage even against minimal moisture. Each piece also has individually adaptable aluminum nose-wires and highly elastic, extra-thin bands to keep the masks in place. The masks are washable and reusable for sustainability. The majority of masks will be distributed for free to employees in highly affected areas such as Italy and Austria. A limited number will be sold through the brand’s e-commerce to customers worldwide with proceeds used to cover production costs and logistics and for donations to healthcare-related activities to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wolford supports local production of surgical and medical face masks
A taskforce built from different textile companies in Vorarlberg, a federal state of Austria which is home to Wolford since 1950, will produce a total of 200,000 face masks for use in hospitals and medical practices. For this project, Wolford provides knitted, highly elastic tubes for the production of 8,000 masks a day and takes care of the molding process. Furthermore the Vorarlberg consortium will also produce medical FFP2 and FFP3 face masks with the support of the medical institute in Vienna.
Wolford joins Fosun’s global anti-pandemic campaign
Wolford’s major shareholder, Fosun, has started am initiative named “Global Anti-Virus Relief Scheme” to support the worldwide fight against the new virus.
Fosun International Limited, founded in 1992, in Shanghai, became Wolford’s major shareholder in 2018. With its roots in China, Fosun has paid close attention to the global spread of the pandemic, mobilizing resources worldwide and donating medical supplies to countries including Italy, Japan, South Korea, India, UK, and France.
On March 23 the Global Anti-virus Relief Scheme delivered 25,000 medical protection items to Milan to distribute to 8 hospitals in Italy’s most affected areas, among which were 3 hospitals in Emilia Romagna – Sassuolo Hospital, Aou Modena, Avis Provinciale Parma. This was the ninth batch of medical protection supplies distributed by Fosun International Limited and the third batch donated by Fosun to Italy.
As a global enterprise, we want to do our part to help the world win the battle against novel coronavirus as soon as possible. We are deeply concerned about the health and safety of our overseas employees and customers, and we will stand firmly with the global public. I believe that with the wisdom of all mankind, as long as we unite, support and help each other, we can overcome the difficulties and overcome the virus.
– Guo Guangchang, chairman of Fosun International
This is just a small contribution that we, as a privileged company, can give back to our environment. Together with our main shareholder Fosun, we are very happy to support medical institutions in Italy and Austria. Both regions are close to our hearts as they are home to our headquarters and our sales office and main showroom; the places, where the majority of our employees live. We are beyond thankful for the great help of our employees worldwide in these tough times and want to give back. We will work together with the medical institutions to guarantee the help will reach those most in need. Stay safe.
– Wolford’s CCO Silvia Azzali & COO Andrew Thorndike.
