{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-572d6a42.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-f4d0de30.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='Textiles firm that helps break swimming records now drowning in debt' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c224d8eafeecae1577d6' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c224d8eafeecae1577d6' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nTextiles firm that helps break swimming records now drowning in debt\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eErba, Northern Italy - 10 July, 20121. Close of fine white yarn unrolling from spool to feed loom at the Mectex factory2. Mid of worker looking at machine3. Various of automatic loom working4. Pan up of mannequin wearing revolutionary...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eErba, Northern Italy - 10 July, 2012\u003cbr/\u003e1. Close of fine white yarn unrolling from spool to feed loom at the Mectex factory\u003cbr/\u003e2. Mid of worker looking at machine\u003cbr/\u003e3. Various of automatic loom working\u003cbr/\u003e4. Pan up of mannequin wearing revolutionary Lzr Racer swimsuit by Speedo\u003cbr/\u003e5. Close up of swimsuit on mannequin \u003cbr/\u003e6. SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Aurelio Fassi, son of Mectex founder:\u003cbr/\u003e\"At the London Olympics, like in Beijing, there will be various national swimming teams, which will use swimsuits created with our textiles, starting with Speedo, then with TIR, JKD (referring to brands of swimwear). These are companies for which we have individually created a unique fabric.\"\u003cbr/\u003eOsstia, Rome - 5 June, 2012\u003cbr/\u003e7. Wide of swimming pool with  Italian national water polo team training\u003cbr/\u003e8. SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Alessandro Campagna, Italian water polo national team coach (wearing JKD t-shirt:):\u003cbr/\u003e\"(Winning the Olympics) is a dream which I hope will come true, and we are putting all our enthusiasm, all our passion, all our determination, into it.\"\u003cbr/\u003e9. Water polo player jumping into the water wearing light blue JKD swimsuit\u003cbr/\u003eErba, Northern Italy - 10 July, 2012\u003cbr/\u003e10. SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Aurelio Fassi, son of Mectex founder:\u003cbr/\u003e\"At NASA, there is a swimming pool that contains very sophisticated equipment, which they use to simulate movement in space. Speedo tested several swimsuits created with different kinds of fabric. At the end NASA's equipment reported that the friction offered by the water to the swimsuit created with our fabric was 30 percent lower than all the others.\"\u003cbr/\u003e11. Worker inside factory checking white fabric coming off the loom \u003cbr/\u003e12. Pan down of machine unrolling black fabric to worker checking it\u003cbr/\u003e13. Close of fabric thickness control device\u003cbr/\u003e14. SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Aurelio Fassi, son of Mectex founder:\u003cbr/\u003e\"This growth-measures (referring to Italian government attempts to boost economic growth), bloody hell, why isn't it working yet ? It is urgently needed, please hurry up.  This sector, this industry is splitting up. I talk about textiles as it's the business I know, well, every day a factory closes down, and with it goes part of our history.\"\u003cbr/\u003e15. Pan up of Formula 1 drivers suit\u003cbr/\u003e16. Close up of  Mectex badge on suit\u003cbr/\u003e17. Close of fork-lift truck moving down rolls of cloth\u003cbr/\u003e18. Mid of hundreds of rolls of coloured cloth stored on shelves store\u003cbr/\u003e20. Wide of man working in storage area on computer with rolls of cloth in the foreground\u003cbr/\u003eThousands of metres of thin white synthetic fibre unroll every day at Italy's Mectex factory, but in these tough economic times, the days could be numbered for his company that has revolutionised the swimming world.\u003cbr/\u003eThe fibre is used in the manufacturing process to make high tech swimming suits for some of the world's elite athletes, who will wear them in competition at the London Olympics that starts in less that a fortnight. \u003cbr/\u003eWeavers and looms in Erba, northern Italy, are working seven days a week to produce special fabric for the unique shark skin like swim suits.\u003cbr/\u003eMectex is a small family-owned textile company, which in 2008 revolutionised the swimming world but company's workers and owners are concerned for the factory's future after the Olympics.\u003cbr/\u003e\"At the London Olympics, like Beijing, there will be various national swimming teams which will use swimsuits created with our textiles, starting with Speedo, then with TIR, JKD, these are companies for which we individually designed a unique fabric.\" said Aurelio Fassi, son of  90-year old founder Carlo Fassi. \u003cbr/\u003eIn 1954, Carlo Fassi, produced the world's first stretchy fabric and six years later he opened the Mectex factory.\u003cbr/\u003eThe Italian swimming and water polo national teams will compete at the London's Olympics, proudly wearing JKD swimsuits made with Mectex revolutionary materials. \u003cbr/\u003eMectex's highly specialised and motivated manufacturers created between 2004 and 2007 a new synthetic waterproof and breathable fabric, through a revolutionary process patented as 'Plasmamec'. \u003cbr/\u003eAccording to Mectex, this nano-technology process is achieved using cold plasma energy to treat synthetic fabric.\u003cbr/\u003ePlasmamec is a secret formula which, reportedly without the use of chemicals, modifies the surface of the synthetic fabric.\u003cbr/\u003eIt allows racing swimsuits to become wet but quickly distributes the water without absorbing it, providing the fabric for arguably the fastest swimming clothing in the world, the Lzr Racer by Speedo.\u003cbr/\u003eAurelio Fassi explains that it has been tested by NASA.\u003cbr/\u003e\"NASA's equipment reported that the friction offered by the water to the swimsuit created with our fabric was 30 percent lower than all the others,\" he added.\u003cbr/\u003eA confirmation of NASA's findings came at the Beijing Olympics where athletes wearing swimsuits made with Plasmamec won 94 per cent of the swimming gold medals, and broke 92 percent of the world records. \u003cbr/\u003eBut now accountants warn that Mectex is on the verge of bankruptcy.  \u003cbr/\u003eFollowing the Beijing success, the Fassi family acquired loans from Italy's Banca Intesa and invested heavily in research, machinery and highly specified raw materials.\u003cbr/\u003eBut then came the world financial crisis, which for Mectex was compounded by the non-payment in 2010 of a 2.5 (m) million euro (3.06 (m) million US dollar) contract. \u003cbr/\u003eBanks stopped their loans and the end seems in sight for one Italy's most successful textile companies.  \u003cbr/\u003eMectex is now unable to pay its debts. The workforce has shrunk from 125 workers in 2000 to 48 now, of which 21 are unpaid.\u003cbr/\u003eFassi's only hope is that growth and development measures set out by Italy's prime minister Mario Monti will save the day, but time is running out.\u003cbr/\u003e\"This growth-measures (referring to Italian government attempts to boost economic growth), bloody hell, why isn't it working yet ? It is urgently needed, please hurry up.  This sector, this industry is splitting up,\" he adds.\u003cbr/\u003eApart from its revolutionary swimsuit fabric textile, the 52-year old company also produced suits for Ferrari racing driver Fernando Alonso and for Ducati motorcycle racer Valentino Rossi.\u003cbr/\u003eClients are reminded: \u003cbr/\u003e(i) to check the terms of their licence agreements for use of content outside news programming and that further advice and assistance can be obtained from the AP Archive on: Tel +44 (0) 20 7482 7482 Email: info@aparchive.com\u003cbr/\u003e(ii) they should check with the applicable collecting society in their Territory regarding the clearance of any sound recording or performance included within the AP Television News service \u003cbr/\u003e(iii) they have editorial responsibility for the use of all and any content included within the AP Television News service and for libel, privacy, compliance and third party rights applicable to their 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