António Moreira Gonçalves
Specialized in sports clothing, Fradelsport saw their orders reduced to a bare minimum. In response, the textile company from Famalicão switched to making masks, in partnership with Arestas e Medidas and Mónica Daniela manufacturers. Now, the masks are waiting for CITEVE’s certification but also from a laboratory in Madrid.
To fight the downfall in orders, Managing Partner Paulo Reis, used to manufacture sports attire of iconic football teams like Sporting, Lazio and the Scottish National Rugby team, switched production, two weeks ago, to make personal protection equipment such as gowns, sleeves, boot covers and masks.
“For Fradelsport everything is new: the models, the raw materials, the end products”, describes the managing-partner of the company. “We received a lot of requests, with maximum urgency, to supply pharmacies, warehouses, big companies, etc.”, he adds.
The move is being undertaken in partnership with manufacturers Mónica Daniela and Arestas e Medidas, with a team of 50 workers and a productive capacity of 30 to 40 thousand masks every week.
For now, production is focused on masks for social use – with two or three layers, made in Non-woven fabric (TNT), polyester and other materials – but the goal is to also include hospital masks. Currently, Fradelsport is awaiting certification from CITEVE and from a laboratory in Madrid to kickstart that second phase of production.
Fradelsport is set on diminishing the impact of Covid-19 on the company’s turnover, which is, on average, two million euro per year.