Children’s Face Masks – Popular from Graz to Dubai

For over 10 years, the Graz-based entrepreneur Franz Bratl focused on the production and distribution of fluorescent children’s nightlights. This changed almost overnight when the COVID-19 situation sparked the idea for producing appealing children’s protective masks.

After intensive market research, it soon became clear that there were not enough washable masks with children’s motifs available for European consumers. Action was taken quickly, and graphic designers were tasked with creating children’s motifs for the high-quality washable cotton fabrics used. Soon, the first production batch was commissioned, each containing 3 different cotton masks per pack, sorted by gender and taste. The series are packaged in cheerfully printed clupy-yellow paper boxes, reminiscent of the apple pie from a well-known fast-food retailer.

A Springboard in International Trade

Amidst all the setbacks that companies worldwide had to endure during this year’s COVID-19 crisis, this situation proved to be a true springboard for Franz Bratl, CEO of Clupy Design GmbH, in the international trade of children’s face masks. Within a few months, the company was able to broadly establish its product deliveries in Europe and is currently working on further expanding trade towards the UAE.

High Demand Speaks for Itself

Through the ongoing support and advice from the EEN/ICS team, Mr. Bratl was able to consistently expand his deliveries and has no intention of stopping at European borders. In total, from April to August 2020, nine larger orders and several smaller orders from 10 countries within and two countries outside the EU were recorded, totaling approximately 450,000 units.

The call from the United Arab Emirates is now a loud one, which is why the first 50,000 units of his children’s face masks were recently delivered to the Middle East, to Dubai. Further deliveries are already being planned.

In addition to practical and intercultural aspects of international deliveries, the expansion of the international online webshop and presence on social media have also increasingly come into the company’s focus. Here too, Mr. Bratl is actively coached by the EEN/ICS team to avoid potential errors in advance and to assert himself sustainably in the international market. For this purpose, the digitalization check of the “go-international” internationalization initiative was quickly and easily applied for as part of an ICS funding consultation.

Assistance for International Business

For several years, Mr. Bratl has been in constant contact with the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) office of the ICS and gladly seeks advice on various issues concerning international business. In this context, he also participated in various ICS events and an EU project of the EEN, including business trips.

Particularly in the area of international business partner search, very good successes have already been achieved, as business relationships with European children’s product retailers were established 2 years prior through EEN mediation.

Through the publication of the free marketplace company profile on the EEN’s own homepage www.een.at and the strong network of EEN colleagues throughout Europe, CLUPY’s children’s face masks quickly attracted the attention of foreign company partners, who then approached the company and requested contact. The recipe for success, which had already proven effective once, now also held true for CLUPY’s new products.