As frontliners battle to treat the sick in hospitals across the country, personal protective equipment (PPE) has become a vital tool in the defence against the pandemic.
With that in mind, many organisations are ramping up their production of PPE to ensure that the country’s frontliners are kept safe at work.
One of these organisations is the social enterprise, sew X. Its workers are made up of mostly students and people from low-income families, migrants and refugee communities in Sentul.
Operated by the non-governmental organisation, Dignity for Children Foundation, sew X is one of many social enterprises set up to provide underprivileged youth with training and education.
Dignity’s programmes are designed to ensure that by the time the students under its wing graduate, they will be academically qualified and skilled enough to join the workforce.
“Sew X enables youths to develop life skills, employability skills and character,” sew X’s communications and marketing director Liew Tong Ngan told FMT.
Focusing on soft and hard skill training, Dignity was recently recognised for its humanitarian efforts with the United Nations Malaysia Award 2019.
Apart from sew X, Dignity operates six similar initiatives – eat X, cut X, bake X, art X, wellness X and grow X.
As to what the “X” in the name stands for, Liew said, “The X is a symbol that stands for ‘collaboration’ and for our location.
“So, you can ‘sew with dignity’ or ‘sew at dignity’. We are open to collaborations; to join hands and help improve the lives of many more youths.”
Proceeds from sew X are channelled back to Dignity and then invested in further life-transforming programmes.
In addition, a portion of the profits is paid to the craftsmen responsible for production.
Under normal circumstances, sew X manufactures products for weddings, conferences, corporate events and hampers.
Their main products are high-quality and lovingly sewn goods made from reused and local fabrics.
But with the country under siege by Covid-19, sew X has switched to producing PPE for frontliners.
In addition to PPE and face shields, sew X also tailors customised fabric masks for adults and children.
As the number of Covid-19 cases rose rapidly in Sabah, sew X responded by organising a donation drive so frontliners in the state received the PPE they needed.
During the first Movement Control Order, sew X received orders from corporations for PPE and face shields to be donated to frontliners.
However, there were some teething problems when it came to shifting the focus of production, said Liew, as the managerial team was in Petaling Jaya and the sewing studio was in Sentul.
However, through coordination with handphones and laptops, the tailors in Sentul were able to get to work on crafting PPE.
Unemployed men and women were striving not just to make a living, but to give back to society by helping to protect the frontliners who are protecting their fellow Malaysians.
The delivery of a project as large as this has motivated the team and they consider it one of sew X’s greatest accomplishments.
“It was a real community effort and a steep learning curve for sew X to collaborate with many other social enterprises, and we are very proud of that,” said Liew.
Companies interested to place bulk orders for PPE can contact sew X at sew@