Adapting to the pandemic by diversifying your product
Beni Moussa, founder of Bensons Workwear, Midleton, Cork. In response to Covid-19, Bensons Workwear quickly adapted its business to manufacture medical garments. File picture: Clare Keogh
WHEN the pandemic hit, leading London-based designers such as Simone Rocha pivoted to making scrubs for NHS workers. Closer to home, Cork clothing company Bensons Workwear diversified its product offering to manufacture hospital gowns for the Health Service Executive.
And the coronavirus climate has also prompted Bensons founder Beni Moussa to think about how the fashion and clothing industry can be tailored to benefit communities in Munster and across Ireland long-term.
Mr Moussa established Bensons Workwear in Midleton in 2012 and it swiftly made a name for its sportswear and schoolwear as well as work clothing and uniforms for industries across Ireland, France, and the UK.
In response to Covid-19 and Government requests, the company started to manufacture hospital gowns for the HSE.
“We haven’t stopped since this all began,” Beni Moussa said.
“We immediately halted production of our regular stock and instead focused all our efforts on making hospital gowns and scrubs for the HSE. I knew we could do it — so we did! They say that optimistic people can live longer, so I never stop believing ‘I can do this’. There have been times when it has been challenging, but it's also very rewarding to know that we are making a difference.”
The company has employed and trained even more seamstresses due to demand.
“The minute we received approval from the HSE for our gowns and fabrics we started producing large quantities — we went from production capacity of 400 gowns per day to exceeding 3,000 units daily,” said Mr Moussa.
“With the help of a business expansion grant from Local Enterprise Office South Cork and some expert advice, we purchased more fabric from an Irish supplier, materials such as cutting tables and sewing machines and opened our doors to hire skilled workers to help us fulfil capacity and achieve our aim.
“At the height of the pandemic, we worked day and night to accelerate our production to support frontline workers in every way we could. The people we have at Bensons are the key to our success, they are really an amazing team, we adapted together and exceeded our own expectations of what we can achieve.”
An experienced fashion designer, Mr Moussa started out in the textile industry at an early age.
“Textiles is my passion and I am delighted I have had the opportunity to put my craft to good use,” he said. “As a team at Bensons, we put all our focus on developing high-quality medical garments and are proud to say that we have just become the first manufacturer in Ireland to receive CE certification.”
Putting community first is key to success, he believes.
“The pandemic has made us focus on what we do best and has really shown us the ability of the individuals when coming together to serve the community. This has helped us build a strong team that shares the same vision to teach the skill to all ages across Ireland and bring back the textile industry into this country,” he said.
Bensons now plans to export its Irish-made clothing to the rest of Europe and the USA as well as employ more machinists, cutters, seamstresses, packers, and sales staff in both Cork and Dublin.
“In recent years, we were taught how to import goods instead of producing them ourselves, we now feel it is important as a country that we become more self-sufficient and go back to making our own clothing — importing should be our last resort,” said Mr Moussa.
“As businesses, we need to find the right medium between how much we are importing and how much we are exporting out of Ireland and ensure we are supporting local manufacturing. In the future, I would like to see more clothing factories being set up in rural communities so that people don’t have to commute to bigger cities and I would like to see the skill being taught to the youth so that this trade will last and Ireland can be known for its textile industry once again. Our clothing factory is expanding to a much bigger space rapidly and we are finding more and more people wanting to get back to creativity, crafts, sewing, and design.
“We have also established a better-quality system recently that ensures our level of quality standards for every garment we send out for delivery. We are also in the process of getting ISO 9001 certification for our factories."
Manufacturing clothing competitively in Ireland rather than relying on imported textiles is possible, he believes.
"We feel Ireland is the right place geographically to make this happen, people’s attitude towards business and success is unique and their support is so special," said Mr Moussa.
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