From the “quinternet of sizes” of 1663, which sanctioned the birth of the manufacture, to the online game dedicated to 21 micron fabric: the long history of the Vitale Barberis Canonico wool mill is a heritage of events, innovations and ideas that does not fear the pandemic and its effects. “Indeed, we must react with even more creativity”, explains Alessandro Barberis Canonico, CEO of the company and member of the thirteenth generation of the owner family, from the Pratrivero headquarters, in the Biella Pre-Alps.
What changes have you introduced in the workplace?
In our two production plants, here in the Biella area, where we have about 400 employees, we have very stringent anti-Covid protocols: we separated the flows, instructed people to wear masks, mostly of the Ffp2 type today, to sanitize the workplace and above all to maintain the spacing. In the offices we have favored smartworking. We did a lot of swabs, and luckily we had a few cases, 13, none serious. This area of Piedmont has been less affected by Covid than the rest of the Region.
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What news will remain beyond the pandemic?
Surely the world will be different, the occasions for wearing formal clothing will be different: if before there were ceremonies, travels, business meetings, dinners with friends, there will be a revision of our sense of sociality, we will have to get used to a world with fewer interactions. We will be interconnected in a different way, behind the screens, and clothing will also follow this evolution. The man will dress in a way that allows him to live in multiple environments: working from home, going to pick up the children from school, returning to the office for an appointment. Activities that require semi-informal, more fluid clothing, which I would define as “decontracté”.
Have you noticed any changes in customer expectations and wishes?
Our clients are not the final ones, but the intermediates. Everyone has asked us for new things, innovation and customization are the two great trends that are taking shape. We need to stimulate the market, start responding to this change in customer habits. Today we travel in a different way, we don’t go to dinner but maybe lunch, we work from home, so comfort is also a very important theme.
Compared to the collections you had prepared for spring-summer 2020, to what extent have those for autumn-winter 20-21 and spring-summer 21 been reduced?
In reality we have done the opposite, precisely to favor customers and offer more innovation, to be a stimulus, in fact. Attacking is better than standing still, suffering. This collection will also have more parts, not less.