Albanian textile business producing masks for Mercedes Benz

 Textile business in Tirana

 Crises are also opportunities, not just shocks. It seems that Alba Dervishi understood this well. About 5 weeks ago, her textile manufactory has been producing work uniforms. Today, it produces masks and supplies world-renowned companies such as Mercedes Benz and other international companies.

At a time when the coronavirus crisis has hit almost all manufacturing businesses, especially clothing and footwear production, adapting to the demands of the times is proving to be a formula for success.

"The idea was based on the request of some of our current clients, who contacted me and asked me if we could produce protective masks. The material came from Germany and they started distributing it to some tailors ", explains Dervishi. "Today we supply 12-15 tailors for the production of masks aiming Germany." Dervishi says to A2.

But was it easy to switch from work clothes to masks as staff qualifications were also required? "We are used to making very complex models. This is a product where our employees have adapted very quickly.



Meanwhile, the textile business has been the most talked-about lately, where there have been criticisms about the working conditions at this time of coronavirus. "Before we get on the work buses, they measure our temperature," says Valbona Bregu, director of the production. "We are given disposable gloves, we produce the masks ourselves and the distances between the workers there are cases even more than two meters."

At this moment, exactly 50,000 masks a week are exported to Germany from this textile business, while the main customer is asking for 100,000 a day, forcing this company to expand its subcontractors to meet the demand.