A FORMER Pars striker who has switched from wearing the strip to producing it is hoping to kit out NHS staff battling COVID-19.

Andrew Barrowman, who played for Dunfermline over two separate spells, has been working for Spanish sportswear manufacturer Joma for the last three years since retiring from football.

The 35-year-old is the firm's senior brand manager in Scotland, with clients including Athletic, Partick Thistle, St Mirren and Scottish Athletics, and took to social media to share images of the company donating clothing to frontline workers in Spain.

With more than 17,000 deaths, it has been one of the hardest-hit countries through the pandemic, and Barrowman was keen to share a "bit of good news".

Some restrictions that had been enforced strictly in the country started to ease earlier this week, owing to the rate of new infections falling, and Barrowman – who scored 22 goals in 65 games for the Pars – is keen to help workers on the frontline here, too.

"Spain are two or three weeks ahead of where we are, in terms of talking about a curve, and every family is touched by it. I think everyone knows someone who has been affected," he said.

"I'm in contact with my boss there and, when you speak to them and hear their recollections, they're two or three weeks ahead of our reality. It's desperate stuff.

"Everyone's the same but we're just trying to do what we can to help. We're no different to a lot of companies; we've got the facilities to help, so can chip in.

"It is a Spanish company, has had no outside investment and is family-run, so is very loyal to the country. It's a big employer in Spain so has a duty to do that.

"Everyone's looking for bit of good news and that was one of the reasons I put it out on social media. It's been well received."

Joma have been using a 3D printer, normally used to create soles for footwear, to produce between 40-50 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) masks a day, as well as distributing huge numbers of rain jackets and trainers – which Barrowman said they had "hundreds of thousands of" – to doctors and nurses.

"We're trying to offer solutions to a lack of PPE," Barrowman continued.

"A simple thing is using 3D printers, which we use for shoe soles and has a capacity of 40-50 a day, to make PPE masks. Rain jackets is another simple thing – we stock hundreds of thousands of them – as an alternative PPE solution. We distributed thousands of trainers to give doctors and nurses something comfortable to wear while working long hours.

"The instruction from head office is to help in any way we can. There has been some restrictions in transportation in and out of Spain that have been lifted, so you can now ship goods outwith Spain.

"I'd love to do it here."

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