LUBIAM GETS BACK TO WORK AS ITALY BEGINS TO REOPEN

As Italy begins to open up slowly after its months-long shutdown due to Coronavirus, Lubiam has decided to actively contribute to the fight against the health emergency with a major investment. The Mantua-based company has bought the necessary machinery to start the production of certified surgical face masks, nowadays an essential instrument of health protection.

In the last few weeks, the company, that holds strong ties with its hometown, supported the city of Mantua by donating to the Carlo Poma hospital. Along with this, the Bianchi family decided to do more to support its community in the fight against the current health crisis.

“We are not only a menswear company, but we are also a family- a whole body with a brain, a heart, and hands. With a little flexibility, we are now able to offer a new important service,” said Edgardo and Giulia Bianchi, Lubiam’s managing director and product manager. “This is why we decided to step up and assume an important role to support the system and prevent the virus from spreading, by helping in making thousands of face masks available for our employees and our community. During this emergency, we decided to use our knowledge, skills, and experience to offer practical help. Our company has always cared about our social system and this project is rooted in our philosophy and DNA.”

The new machinery will allow Lubiam to produce 50,000 face masks per day and part of the production will be donated.

Recently the project was approved by Invitalia within the public grant “Cura Italia” and currently the tools and production process are being tested. “Although this is a complex process from a bureaucratic point of view, it takes a lot of time and effort, but we believe it is absolutely worth it,” said Edgardo Bianchi. “We cannot wait to officially launch the production.”

The Lubiam Headquarters in Mantova reopened its doors on May 4th, fully respecting all security and social distancing guidelines both in the manufacturing facility and in the offices.

Nearly 70 percent of the employees are back to work, while protected categories and people more at risk will be the last to come back. Including those who are currently smart-working, the company has reached a 90 percent activity rate.

At the entrance in Lubiam, employees are submitted to temperature checks, as they already did in February. Additional safety precautions include production shifts, in-house cafeteria turns, a complete reorganization of the work station layouts, and remote working when possible.

As for the brand’s upcoming spring/summer 2021 collections, Lubiam’s style director Giovanni Bianchi said that the company is facing this new season with caution. “Our collections will be presented and structured in the most effective way, in order to be welcomed by our clients, who are facing very delicate, unprecedented times,” he said. “Our proposals will be concrete and concentrated, and we will make the necessary selections in order to meet the needs of the market.”

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“The excellence of our sartorial craftsmanship and top-quality materials will not change in the process, and we will do our best to reduce any kind of waste to zero, for the sake of the supply chain,” added Giovanni Bianchi. “We will apply this logic to all our brands – Luigi Bianchi Mantova, L.B.M.1911, Lubiam Cerimonia, and Lubiam.”

Giovanni Bianchi added that the brand plans to show next spring’s collection in June or July as soon as its available.

He added: “We have trust in ourselves and in the fashion system, we know we can count on the cooperation of our partners, and we have built solid, lasting relationships with the trade industry and with our suppliers. It is necessary to look at the future with caution but at the same time in a positive way. We want to focus on what we can do, instead of what we cannot. Our strength is our history. Next year will mark the 110th anniversary of our company. After enduring major challenges including two world wars, we are confident that we can overcome this pandemic too. Our family, that includes all our employees and collaborators as well, will be the protagonists of this new beginning.”