Prada has Begun Reopening Factories in Italy
300 employees will return to the brand’s Arezzo Factory in Tuscany where “cutting edge” safety protocols are now in place
Once the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, Italy is slowly starting to ease its stay-at-home restrictions, allowing employees all over the country to return to work. Among them are the employees of Prada’s Arezzo factory, where the brand’s leather goods, apparel, and footwear are produced.
Ensuring the health and safety of their staff members come first, Prada has enlisted a number of new regulations for workers returning to their Arezzo factory. Reduced hours, split shifts, and social distancing measures will continue to reign supreme while other regulations will include providing staff with personal protective equipment, having hand sanitizer at all workstations, and running a sanitation programme. The Italian fashion house has also made a significant investment in testing by procuring enough viral and antibody testing kits to have every one of their employees tested each month.
“In this emergency situation we have not only been considering when to reopen our manufacturing facilities but above all how to reopen them in total security, in order to safeguard our employees’ health and protect them from the virus,” said Prada’s CEO, Patrizio Bertelli. “The introduction of these measures means we can now confidently restart production in Tuscany, and look forward to extending the above protocols to our plants and offices in other regions when they reopen.”
Should reopening the Arezzo factory go according to plan the brand intends to shift its focus to factories in Umbria, Marche and Veneto, before reopening the collection and sample-making workshops in Milan. The factories in particular play a crucial role in creating upcoming collections and will likely begin work on Summer/Spring 2021, which will be the first collection from Raf Simmons and Miuccia Prada’s new partnership.
Lead image courtesy of Jason Lloyd-Evans/Prada S/S20
