Rethinking your work and facing the emergency, don’t stop. Indeed, start out stronger than before. And courage has been rewarded. Who are we talking about? By Anna Fiscale and her all-female enterprise that looks to society. Some have the birth of the Quid project dedicated to fashion. Now the conversion of the company into the production of masks. They are not just any masks, but have obtained the certification of the Higher Institute of Health. We will tell you the story of this all-Italian adventure.
Anna and her feminine enterprise
Progetto Quid is a social enterprise supported by the Opes Foundation. Launched a few years ago, it bases its foundations on the transformation of fabric waste into fashion garments. But it is also a social enterprise because it offers work and reintegration to people, especially women, who find themselves in difficulty. The company is located in Verona and started with few employees. There are now 142 between production and sales outlets in Italy and abroad.
And the strong desire to restart and bet even in this phase of the pandemic was great. “As we have always repeated here – she told Corriere – the limits are starting points, transforming waste into resources is what our DNA is based on. The conversion has forced us to make ourselves new skills and the heritage we have learned will remain after this emergency: now they are masks, who knows tomorrow. Everything is exceeded . She was an economics student at Bocconi University in Milan. After graduation she chose to invent a future. And the results obtained proved her right.
The conversion of Anna’s business into the production of masks
And so the strong will not to stop. “When Commissioner Arcuri spoke about 50 cents masks without making a quality distinction, it didn’t help – she says -. Ours was the sixth company in Italy, out of 270 requests, to obtain certification from the Higher Institute of Health: it’s not all the same “. And so through the conversion the production is restarted. The venture was stopped only two weeks. “Fabrics are our raw material – she added -. So when the closing of the shops came in March, we immediately thought about it. But while on the one hand we started, on the other we asked the ISS to find out what requirements needed to be certified”.
The certification obtained by the National Institute of Health
Teamwork to work. In fact, as Anna Fiscale says, a team was created with a project leader, Marco Penazzi. “Five different tests had to be passed – she said – from one on bacterial removal to another on resistance to flow, and others. In the end, we identified a drip and antimicrobial fabric, 97 percent cotton and the rest of elastane, which, however, did not pass the exam. We asked our supplier to modify it, we retested it even after twenty washes. Until we passed all the tests of the Safe laboratory and of the Tecnopolo of Mirandola, in Emilia, which also helped us to draw up the technical data sheet”.
The difficult moments were not lacking
Mask production yes. But in an Italy where many have measured themselves with the creation of do-it-yourself masks, it has not been easy to face the competition. “And there, paradoxically, also came the hardest moment – she explains-. Because at that point the market had started to become saturated with uncertified products. Simultaneously with the announcement of Commissioner Arcuri who in agreement with Federfarma promised masks at 50 cents without saying that they are disposable ones: and there is a big difference. Fortunately, then people understand ”.
The history of the Quid company
The project created by Anna Fiscale was born in 2012. Today she has 120 disadvantaged, refugee or women with disabilities, addictions or abuse among their employees. Today it invoices over three billion euros. And it is a concrete company in Italy of how we can create business, social, sustainable and in support of women. Born in a shed in Avesa, in the Verona district, women took part intent on measuring themselves with the noble art of sewing. And here is the secret of this excellence. Just as scraps of cloth can have a new life, these women too can be reborn and have more hope for their future. That something more, like the meaning of the word “Quid”, “because the products we offer to customers – says Fiscale – have that thing more than an added human value, summarized by the brand of the clothespin that holds together different realities preventing them from fall”.
