Rethink your work and face to the emergency don't stop. On the contrary, starting again stronger than before. And the courage was rewarded. Who are we talking about? About Anna Fiscale and her all-female company that looks to the social. A few years ago the Quid project dedicated to fashion was born. Now the company's reconversion in the production of masks. Which are not just any masks, but have obtained the certification of the Higher Institute of Health. We tell you the story of this all-Italian adventure.
Anna and her female business
Quid Project is a social enterprise supported by the Opes Foundation. Started a few years ago, it has its foundations on the transformation of fabric scraps into fashion garments. But it is also a social enterprise because it offers jobs and reintegration to people, in particular women, who find themselves in difficulty. The company is located in Verona and started with a few employees. Now there are 142 production and sales points in Italy and abroad.
And the strong desire for restart and betting even in this phase of the pandemic was a lot. "As we have always repeated here - he told the Corriere - limits are starting points, transforming waste into resources is what our DNA is based on. The reconversion has forced us to acquire new skills and the heritage we have learned will remain even after this emergency: now they are masks, tomorrow who knows. Everything is overcome ". You were a student of Economics at the Bocconi University in Milan. After graduating, he chose to invent a future for himself. And the results obtained proved her right.
The conversion of Anna's company into the production of masks
And so the strong will not to stop. “When Commissioner Arcuri spoke of masks at 50 cents regardless of quality did not help - he says -. Ours was the sixth company in Italy, out of 270 requests, to obtain certification from the Higher Institute of Health: not all is the same ". And so through the reconversion, production is restarted. The company was only stopped for two weeks. “Fabrics are our raw material - he added -. So when the shops closed in March we thought about it right away. But while on the one hand we started, on the other we consulted the ISS to find out what requirements one needed to have to obtain the certification ".
The certification obtained by the Higher Institute of Health
To work as a team. In fact, as Anna Fiscale tells us, a team was created with a project leader, Marco Penazzi. "Five different tests had to be passed - he said -, from the one on bacterial removal to the other on resistance to flow, and others. In the end, we identified a non-drip and antimicrobial fabric, 97 percent cotton and the rest elastane, but it didn't pass the test. We asked our supplier to modify it, we also retested it after twenty washes. Until we passed all the tests of the Safe laboratory and of the Mirandola Technopole, in Emilia, which also helped us to draw up the technical data sheet".
The difficult moments were not lacking
Production of masks yes. But in an Italy where many have measured themselves with the creation of DIY masks, it was not easy to face the competition. "And paradoxically, the hardest moment also arrived - he explains-. Because at that point the market had begun to become saturated with non-certified products. Simultaneously with the announcement by Commissioner Arcuri who, in agreement with Federfarma, promised masks at 50 cents without saying that they are disposable: and there is a big difference. Fortunately, people understand".
The history of the Quid company
The project created by Anna Fiscale was born in 2012. Today it employs 120 disadvantaged women, refugees or with a history of disability, addiction or abuse. Today it has over three billion euros. And it is a concrete company in Italy of how it is possible to create a social, sustainable and supportive business for women. Born in a shed in Avesa, a district of Verona, it was attended by women intent on competing with the noble art of sewing. And here is the secret of this excellence. Just as scraps of cloth can have new life, these women too can be reborn and have more hope for their future. That something extra, like the meaning of the word "Quid", "because the products we offer to customers - says Fiscale - have that extra thing of an added human value, summarized by the brand of the clothespin that holds different realities together, preventing them from to fall".