29/04/2020
Our incredible story…
In a month where everything has changed….
The idea was born on March 16 when, to support the community of Valenza during the COVID-19 emergency, I decided to convert a portion of the manufacturing activity of my company, MyFamily srl, in order to quickly produce 30,000 face masks to be donated to the police department and the city through the Municipality, Red Cross and Civil Protection. Established in 2013, MyFamily is a young company, but it already has more than 100 employees, is a world leader in the production of accessories for dogs and cats, doing business in 79 countries and 8,000 retail stores, and has established a new US headquarters in Florida.
For me, this project was an opportunity to do our part, as a company, and to thank the city of Valenza for all it has done for myself personally as well its continued support of MyFamily as it has grown over the years.
With the continued enormous demand for this type of product, we were able to use all of our tailoring and engineering experience (in our machinery department we build electronic pantographs) in order to design and patent an innovative fabric mask. Our intent was not to create a surgical mask or an individual protective device, but a fabric mask with specific technical characteristics to block the droplets that are dispersed when someone coughs, sneezes or even while talking. With this idea in mind STOPDROPLET was created, a protective mask that is much more comfortable to wear than traditional disposable masks and also better for the environment since they can be reused multiple times, which will reduce the devastating ecological impact on the planet single use masks represent.
Together with a qualified staff of experts, we chose the fabric and designed a solution capable of blocking the droplet entirely. To demonstrate this we have designed, with an application for patent, “DropAirTest”, the first machine in the world capable of scientifically testing the ability of a fabric to be impermeable to droplets up to 5 microns, that can travel at the speed of 320 km /192 mph. To see how "DropAirTest" works (click here to see the presentation video:https://www.dropairtester.com/)
We did all of this in just 25 days….
After our initial production run for the health and safety of our community, we then launched the product on the market. Incredibly, In 5 days STOPDROPLET has generated orders of 50,000 units!
Therefore, I want to thank all those, by giving us their trust and support and helped us to:
- have 65 people work on this project instead of being laid off. (we plan to return 90% of the workforce within a week)
- provide the 280 most needy families of our town with a free supply of masks for the next three months.
- In partnership with the Municipality of Valenza, donate medical instrument kits of 1,500 euros each to the sixteen general medial practitioners’ of the city
We helped others to protect themselves and in return they gave us a sea of satisfaction! In the future, as ordinary citizens we may have to get used to wearing masks when we are away from home and we want STOPDROPLET to become a reference brand for consumers for its characteristics of comfort, ecological impact and protection.
Congratulations to all my collaborators, who fought alongside me to make this dream come true!
Finally, I also want to thank the gang from the University of the Czech Republic who supported the Masks4all project and who gave us the inspiration to take this project to heart.
Their slogan, and now ours too, is "I protect you, you protect me". (Watch the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhNo_IOPOtU)
Always remember that a mask does not give us superpowers, but it does help us stop the spread of the virus when combined with social distancing, hand washing and the respect for the restrictions imposed by authorities.
Together we can do it…. we will do it!
Alessandro Borgese
