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Paramo Directional Clothing Systems was set up as a company in 1984 when Nick Brown (founder and owner of Nikwax) started developing and manufacturing water- and wind-proof materials based upon the techniques used by birds, animals and plants to keep themselves dry and warm.
Production started in Bogota, Colombia in South America. Here Nick found a workshop employing some dozen ladies using two machines. The place was run by the Miquelina Foundation which, led by Sister Esther Castano, had been set up to help desperate women (most of whom, until then, had faced no alternative but to be prostitutes) learn trades and earn money. Nick's meeting with the Mother Superior was indeed fruitful. There are now more than twelve dozen women employed at the factory, making some 4000 garments every month, on 120 machines. There is a kindergarten, and there are lessons in literacy and formal training. Most employees have a formal qualification. The factory has even gained the coveted ISO 9002 Standard.
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