Inditex fashion group, the owner of fast-fashion brand Zara, announced it would make its factories and logistics teams available to the Spanish Government to donate masks for patients and medical workers alike.
Outside of Italy, Spain is the worst impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with around 17,000 infected. The country is on lockdown, along with several others in Europe.
In a company statement, Inditex explained it “will make a delivery at least once a week of materials we purchase directly.”
It said that Inditex has “already donated 10,000 protective face masks and by the end of this week expects to be in a position to ship another 300,000 surgical masks.”
The fashion-giant noted how masks are number one on the lists of several medical authorities’ lists, not least of which the Spanish authorities, along with gloves, protective glasses, caps, shoe covers and face shields.
Distribution of masks is underway, Inditex said, while a process of sourcing medical grade fabric for hospital gowns has been launched, together with an investigation into the possibility of switching some of its textile-manufacturing capacity over to the production of health materials.