The alarm clock rings early and after a delicious breakfast I am picked up well-fortified and am back at Rasa's production facility on time.
Punctuality is very important here, nobody ever seems to be late. I am accompanied throughout the day by Rasa, who always has a smile on her face and is a great host.
Today I will use my camera to accompany an important step: packing the LANIUS parts.
Arrival
Knowing nothing about the country, I set off for Lithuania and land in a true winter wonderland and a beautiful snow-covered landscape. In freezing temperatures of what feels like -10°C, I meet friendly and very courteous people. I make a stopover in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, and the next day I will visit our production facility, which is about an hour away.
The conditions there are perfect to put one of our heart projects through a test phase: changing the packaging of our clothing! This is packaged in bags made of recycled polyethylene, so-called polybags. We have been looking for a sustainable, ecological alternative for a long time and now we may have finally found one: bags made of glassine paper! In order to test the practicality, durability and light resistance, we have chosen our production partner in Lithuania for an initial test run.
Tour of the production facility
I arrive at the production facility at midday on the second day and am immediately given a warm welcome by Rasa, our sales manager, who is actually much more than that. She acts as the interface between LANIUS and each of the departments. She is therefore involved in all processes and knows them very well. I am very impressed. And my first impression of the production facility is also entirely positive. Of course, this is not the first time LANIUS has visited Lithuania, but it is my first time. The facility is modern and has an innovative focus.
"Vertical" working method
The production facility is "vertical" - this means that all production steps take place in-house: from yarn, to dyeing and printing, to cutting, sewing, packing, quality assurance and logistics. This is very sustainable and very rare! I am guided through each of the production steps and departments mentioned and everything is explained to me. Rasa is involved in each of the steps. She knows the quality requirements of each individual style.
A calm and relaxed atmosphere
Once again I am fascinated by how many hands each piece of clothing passes through and how much it depends on the skills of each individual. Despite the 800 employees and the numerous production steps, things are very calm and relaxed. No rushing, no clocks stopping the times. In many areas - especially in quality assurance - the materials are discussed calmly.
And Action – the shooting day
The focus is on our new protective covers made of glassine paper, which are being subjected to a pilot test run here and are being used for the first time. I am very excited to hear the reports from the employees on site.
For lunch we stop in the canteen, which offers a wide range of food for the 800 employees. The lunch menu is 50% subsidized by the company, which means the food is very inexpensive. A popular meeting place is, of course, the coffee machine. This is where people chat and exchange ideas.
After dinner, we continue filming and I get an insight into the printing process. This is where our charity shirts for the spring/summer 2019 season are being printed. The color pigments are applied to each of the four prints using a screen printing process. Every move is perfect! Then we come to the sewing station: This is where the finishing touches are made. The charity shirts receive their LANIUS label, the hems and the hang tags. Finally, we visit the packing stations and I can see first hand how our glassine bags are used for the first time!
