MILAN — Ready, set, go. Italian fashion companies are eyeing Monday to officially restart their production. But they are not asked to sprint.
While companies will comply with government protocols and agreements with the unions, some are taking the guidelines a step further. Prada on Thursday said it was the first in the country to introduce a safety protocol that involves the double screening of employees, in collaboration with Careggi hospital in Florence, as it reopens its plants in Tuscany.
Cereda praised the “thorough and precise” additional steps taken to protect workers while complying to the general protocol, as the tests are not mandatory. “The first article of our Constitution says that Italy is a republic founded on work and our civil code says that employers are asked to adopt measures to protect their employees.
Moreover, commercial agreements have been signed with Menarini Diagnostics to supply the testing kits for the serological test, and with a world-leading company in the molecular diagnostics sector to supply reagent testing kits to hospitals. With the aim of not depleting the public health system’s stocks, these materials will be bought directly from the above-mentioned suppliers.
The factories in the Umbria, Marche and Veneto regions partially reopened next, followed lastly by the collection and sample-making workshops in the Milan headquarters. The fashion house has also established a partnership with Brescia’s Spedali Civili and that city’s Università degli Studi for the launch of Valentino People Care. The program will provide employees with specialized medical consultation and training or informative programs dedicated to the coronavirus.
Gucci will extend to all its sites the safety protocol underwritten with the unions thanks to the consultancy with virologist Prof. Roberto Burioni of the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele in Milano. In addition to ArtLab, which opened its prototypes department on April 20, the industrial complex will reopen on May 4, as well as Gucci’s six production plants in the Tuscany and Marche regions, while supporting smart-working whenever possible.
Finally!