At the same time that ORDUÑA 1755 SL met the demand for the supply of technical textiles to manufacture the best possible masks for the Guardia Civil, and subsequently for many other groups, it began work to be able to certify a good mask using the fabrics we had available to us.
The task would have been very simple if these fabrics, until then available and at low prices, had remained available, but they sold out throughout Spain and no more have arrived since. The main reason was that producing countries ordered the confiscation of the production of these fabrics to meet their domestic needs first, and then export finished products to the world, not the raw materials to manufacture them. This was extended to virtually all healthcare products, whose global demand quickly depleted all stocks, both their own and others’. With the resulting abusive price increases. That was the situation, and to this day, it still is.
After three reports from AITEX (Textile Technology Institute of the Valencian Community) with negative results, the preliminary tests were passed on April 5, and yesterday we received the full report 2020TM0590 with positive results in the 4 key points of the UNE EN 14683:2019 + AC:2019 STANDARD for Type IIR surgical masks:
- Bacterial FILTRATION efficiency (BFE), with a result above 98%
- BREATHABILITY, achieving a value well above what is permitted.
- Resistance to SPLASHES from potentially contaminating fluids.
- Microorganism population present on the masks, reaching a value 20% below the maximum permitted.
In summary, the product achieved is optimal for protection against COVID-19, mainly due to the water-repellent nature of all the fabrics that make it up, thereby preventing the penetration of the droplets that carry the virus. These remain on the surface of the textile without spreading through it, as happens with other materials and other types of surgical masks (Type I and Type II), which, when they become damp, facilitate the spread of the virus. This, together with its very high BFE% (Bacterial Filtration Efficiency) and ease of breathing, makes it an effective protective element.
Current manufacturing capacity is 1,200 masks per day, with the expectation of soon reaching 10,000 per week. It is not many, but they are made here in our small workshop in BÉTERA (Valencia) with sewing machines—not robots—by people who are enthusiastic about their work, complying with the strictest hygiene measures and all regulations that, like any other company in the European sphere, we are required to meet. It seems obvious, but it is not so much when we see (if we choose to look) the hygiene, labour, and environmental conditions from which many of the masks arriving in Spain originate.
Thank you all.