**UPDATES**
Marciante and Company has partnered with their shoe factory in Mexico which is currently closed, to help with the mask manufacturing. This has created 20 more jobs in Mexico immediately, and has dramatically increased the capacity for donation, and decrease the turnaround time on order fulfillment. To date they have already received another 5,000 masks for distribution. The shoe factory is making the masks by the thousand, and sending to the Marciante and Company facility in Dallas to be finished, packaged, and shipped out for order fulfillment and donation around the country.
Investing partner Damien Wilson of the Super Bowl winning Kansas City Chiefs, has commented on the mask effort saying "I love it and I think it's really cool how these guys are using their resources to aid in the shortage of supplies especially when their primary service is fashionable leather goods. It's a really cool pivot during this time."
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Matt Marciante never thought his high-end leather company would be producing masks. But that’s exactly what the Dallas resident and business owner has started doing to stay in business and help people in a “major way.”
Marciante – CEO of Marciante and Company, which normally crafts luxurious men’s and women’s leather footwear – for the past two weeks has been exclusively making cloth masks. They’ve already sold more than 2,000 – and have pledged to donate three masks for every mask purchased. Donated masks already are being distributed to the Dallas Police Department, Dallas Post Office locations, Texas-based Gateway Church, plus Sozo Church in San Francisco and Saints Church in Brooklyn, New York.
“We’re cranking the masks out,” said Marciante, whose factory is located in Downtown Dallas. “This started as a way for our employees to keep working, but it’s evolved into we have hired more people and are able to give back in a big way.
“It’s been exciting to be able to pivot and do something creative that is keeping people employed.”
Marciante’s wife and co-owner of the company, Jacqueline, came up with the idea to create masks in early April. Jacqueline, a Chicago native, said Marciante and Company had the perfect foundation in place to help the community by making the masks. “We already had the machinery, equipment and material suppliers to put ourselves in a position to make the masks so I thought, why not?” Jacqueline Marciante said. “It would help others during this pandemic and it would also help us as a business as well. “It has been amazing so far. To be a positive part of this crazy season and to help others in our community and all over the country has been such a gift. That's really what it's all about.”
Matt Marciante said his team can produce about 60 masks in an hour. He has hired on additional employees to sew masks while he and his wife cut out the raw materials. His goal is to be able to produce at least 100 masks per hour.
Marciante, who had been a pastor and youth group leader for several years, said the current mask-making mission aligns with his give-first mentality.
“We feel a strong sense of urgency to help people,” said Marciante, who noted his company is near Dallas’ large population of homeless residents.
The couple and their team work as many as 16 hours a day making the masks in batches. They said the effort is well worth it.
“It’s been a huge blessing to help people,” Matt Marciante said. “We know it’s tough out there, but hopefully we’re able to help as many people as possible.”
For more information on the mask donation program, visit
https://marcianteandco.com/products/cloth-face-cover
For more information on Marciante and Company, visit https://marcianteandco.com/