Calik Denim restarted production last week on May 4 following a six-week break to help slow down the spread of COVID-19 in Turkey.
“It is true that we had a little break due to the global pandemic, but we want all our associates to know that a ‘pause’ does not mean a ‘stop’ at Calik Denim,” said CEO Fatih Doğan. “Even during the factory closure, all our employees used online technologies and actively kept working on our new collection.”
The decision to close administrative and production processes came down on March 23, Doğan said, in an effort to “prioritize employee health” and practice social distancing and other precautionary measures encouraged by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Turkish Ministry of Health.
In terms of cases, Turkey is currently ranked No. 9 in the world with close to 139,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 3,786 deaths. The country, however, is beginning to ease restrictions, allowing shopping malls, barbers and nail salons to reopen this week with rules in place for protective face masks and physical distancing.
“Today, we are in a much better position as a country, thanks to the prudent management of the Turkey Ministry of Health, decisions, precautions and curfews taken from the very beginning regarding the social distance in our country,” Doğan said, adding that the measures were tightly enforced.
Calik, he added, continues at full capacity in accordance with social distance and hygiene rules with the measures taken in the factory. In addition to working on Spring/Summer ’21 collection orders, he said the production team is working on new collection presentations for its Fall/Winter 21-22 collection, Loxodrome.
The company, however, is resuming activities with additional protective and social distancing measures in accordance with the decisions and measures announced by WHO and several government ministries. Thermal cameras at factory entrances monitor for signs of fever and the company is distributing masks and face shields to workers in close quarters. Calik is also implementing hygiene and safety training and information for employees as part of their comprehensive precautions.
Meanwhile, Calik’s administrative employees continue to work remotely, yet none the less eager to connect with clients and brainstorm new concepts.
“During this time, we’ve always kept in touch by regularly holding digital meetings,” Doğan said. “Today, all of our teammates are at work with full motivation.”
