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Elastoni – Confeções, via its brand Be Angel, has developed in close partnership with CITEVE a transparent social mask for easy lip-reading, thus fulfilling a specific need of people with hearing impairments, sign language interpreters and speech therapists, among others. The company from Famalicão is already manufacturing other types of social masks, which are currently being exported.
The translucent social mask, enabler of communication between a vast community and its interlocutors, already completed stage two of the approval process. As T Jornal gathered from Nuno Oliveira, director of the company, Be Angel “is now entering a market prospecting phase”, in order to evaluate the existing needs and to “kick-off the mask’s production”.
“Manufacturing with knit and plastic simultaneously is not easy”, reveals Nuno Oliveira – co-owner of the company alongside his wife – but the productive equinoxes have been overcome. “We still have no expectation regarding volume: by next week we will understand the dimension this deal can take on”, though it seems certain that with the internal productive capacity and possible partnerships, the company will manage to respond to every order.
“Our connections abroad, namely in France and Belgium, have already intensely inquired about the new masks, and the first signs point to a general acceptance”, virtually opening the export gates.
Created 35 years ago, Elastoni is split into two companies: Elastoni (production) and Angel Incentive (commercial and development), which combined garner a sales volume in the vicinity of three million euro – obtained almost entirely via exports. With a workforce of 35 people, the group – that operates under the Be Angel banner – did not lay-off any employees in this time of sanitary emergency.