Leading Italian socks knitting machine builder Busi Giovanni has been digging deep to find motivation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Brainstorming remotely, the Busi team found inspiration in a very special place and went on to develop multiple novel applications for its renowned single-cylinder socks knitting machines. Novel uses include protective masks, mittens, scarves, hoods, ties, wrist cuffs and sleeves. Paola Claudia Baldracchi, Commercial & Marketing Director at Busi, tells the story.

“Over the last few difficult months during which almost all countries worldwide have been hit by COVID19, and lots of businesses have been jeopardized, Busi has turned such a bad situation into a good opportunity to reorganize their production plant and premises,” Paola Claudia Baldracchi explains.

“Furthermore, our team of truly smart employees, engineers and technicians did their utmost to find something out for Busi machines’ optimization,” Ms. Baldracchi said. “Actually, our main question in occasion of brainstorming sessions, held remotely was, how can Busi machines be used differently? Can they make other products in addition to the several types of beautiful socks?”

However, inspiration wasn’t far away for the Busi team, and came in the shape of the inspiring Paralympic athlete Mauro Scarpari.

“A very useful and moving  coaching with Mauro Scarpari - an Italian smiling positive-thinking Paralympic athlete, who rides his hand bike in the Italian official team of able-bodied riders and is the only one among them being committed to the collective issue #vivalavita (i.e. Cheers to life!) of social inclusion in the sports world - was the occasion to revive our soul and to give our mind a new lease of life from the ‘darkness’ of coronavirus.”

“We were taught that negative life experiences as his – he had a bad accident during an off-road motocross race which confined him to a wheelchair – can bring ‘golden chances’ out we’d never get,” Paola Claudia Baldracchi said.

“Thus, our uproarious answer to the above query was a great “Yes, they can!!!”

“Besides socks, Busi single-cylinder sock-knitting machines can be efficiently used to make a good number of different products like protective masks, mittens, scarves, hoods, ties, wrist cuffs and sleeves,” she concluded.

Busi Giovanni Website