The Fashion Industry is Now Producing Masks and Other Necessities in Bulk to Combat COVID-19

Impact of Covid-19 / Coronavirus on fashion industry

In order to help mitigate the global coronavirus pandemic, many luxury brands have either shut down their factories entirely or taken measures to flatten the curve by reducing shifts and offering their manufacturing capabilities to make masks, disinfecting hand sanitizer and other medical gear. For Fashion companies ,in accordance with their government instructions, they were all closed and shut down their factories.

Fashion companies from H&M and Zara to luxury firms LVMH, Kering, and Prada are contributing to the fight against Covid-19 by pledging to supply protective items for medical workers.

“At DaisyCode fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening. ”

The virus has now caused many design houses to cancel or postpone their international resort 2021 shows, including Armani, Dior, Gucci, Hermès, Max Mara, Prada, Chanel and Versace.The restaging of Chanel’s Métiers d’Art show, Ralph Lauren’s fall 2020 show and Burberry’s fall 2020 show are also being postponed due to the virus.Armani told ‘Forbes’ in an interview earlier this week. “We have been following, and often anticipating, the measures being adopted in all countries.”

Italy

Prada 

Prada Resort 2021 in Japan on May 21, has been postponed. Prada has also announced that it will be distributing 80,000 medical overalls and 110,000 masks in Italy due to the current coronavirus pandemic.

Gucci

Marco Bizzarri, president and CEO of Gucci, has donated 100,000 euros in a personal capacity to the Reggio Emilia healthcare company, which operates local hospitals including the Santa Maria Nuova Hospital. Gucci canceled the Fashion Show in San Francisco on May 18th ,  6 factories and specialty stores in Italy have been closed until April 3 

Mayhoola

The parent company of Balmain and Valentino, will be donating 1 million euros to Sacco Hospital in Italy to help stop the spread of coronavirus. They will also be donating an additional 1 million euros to Italy's Civil Protection.

“Mayhoola also decided to make an additional donation of 1 million euros towards Protezione Civile Italiana in order to support the extraordinary effort that they are putting forward throughout all the Italian regions. “Our production plants and offices are widespread across the diverse and beautiful Italian regions: Lazio, Lombardy, Piemonte, Veneto, Tuscany and many others,” continues Mayhoola spokesperson, “It’s absolutely remarkable how Protezione Civile Italiana is operating within the entire country and the way in which it continuously stands behind the needs of Italian citizens.””

Moncler

Moncler is donating 10 million euros to support the Fiera Hospital project in the region of Lombardy, which has been badly hit by coronavirus, Covid-19.The donation will go towards the construction of a hospital with more than 400 intensive care units in the ex Fiera Milano area, explained the brand in a statement.

Versace

Versace postponed a show in the United States on May 16 .Versace donated 1 million RMB ( $143,748) to The Chinese Red Cross Foundation, Donatella Versace and her daughter also announced a personal donation of 200,000 euros to the ICU of Milan's San Raffaele hospital.

Bulgari

Bulgari also made a donation of an unspecified sum to the research department of the Istituto Lazzaro Spallanzani in Rome, allowing the hospital to purchase a microscopic image acquisition system valued at around 100,000 euros.

Dolce & Gabbana

They announced a comprehensive plan to partner with Humanitas University to fund studies and further research dedicated to finding out more about the cause of the virus.

Giorgio Armani

Armani presented the 2020 autumn and winter fashion show online, and Giorgio Armani also postponed fashion show in Dubai on April 19 and 20 to November, and Temporarily close its hotels, restaurants and all stores in Milan.

Max Mara

Max Mara was originally scheduled for The 2021 Resort fashion show in St. Petersburg , Russia on May 25, has recently been cancelled.

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France

LVMH

“The Group and its Maisons are extremely proud and humbled to do their part in the fight against COVID-19 and to help those whose mission is to protect and care for others.
As such, we will continue to honour this commitment for as long as necessary, in connection with the French health authorities.”

LVMH announced it has managed to secure an order with a Chinese industrial supplier of 10 million masks to be distributed in France , resulting in an expected total of around 40 million masks. It would also be retooling all its production facilities in France for its perfumes and cosmetics division to instead manufacture hydroalcoholic gel to be provided to public authorities.

Dior

Dior postponed the show on May 9. Stores in North America are temporarily closed.

In these challenging times, Dior is mobilized to protect health care workers when they are needed most. The first hydro alcoholic gel deliveries have been made successfully to the AP-HP, Paris’ public hospital network. Our thoughts and good wishes are with all those who are involved in the fight against Covid-19.
LVMH will continue to honour this commitment for as long as necessary.

#DiorStandsWithYou

Kering

Kering donated 7.5 million yuan (or $1 million) to the Red Cross Society of China,It also has offered three million medical masks, purchased and imported from China, to the French health service in the coming days. The group is also preparing the workshops of its Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent labels to manufacture their own masks.They also said it has donated an undisclosed amount to the Institut Pasteur to support its research into Covid-19. 

Hermès

Hermès gradually closes 42 factories in France , but Hermès will continue the operation of the perfume factory and manufacture epidemic’s products. It has pledged 5 million yuan (or $711,278) to the China Soong China Ling Foundation. The annual Saut Hermès, originally scheduled to be held at the Grand Palace from March 20 to 22, was cancelled . At the same time, Hermès  canceled the fashion show on April 28 .

Chanel

Chanel announced the suspension of factory operations in France. In addition, Chanel also canceled the resort fashion show in Capri in May, as well as the 2019/20 show in Beijing and London. All stores in the United States are temporarily closed.

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America

Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren did not participate in New York Fashion Week in February this year, was originally scheduled to show the autumn / winter 2020 collection in April, but due to the impact of virus, it has been announced to cancel.

CFDA

Tom Ford, chairman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), and Vogue’s Anna Wintour announced a massive fundraising effort called A Common Thread to provide pandemic-related relief to the fashion community.

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England

Burberry

Burberry postponed The 2020 FW Show on April 23rd .

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H&M

Swedish fast-fashion giant H&M has similarly announced it is “quickly arranging” for its supply chain to manufacture personal protective equipment for hospitals and health care workers fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

“Right now we're facing a situation that no one could really prepare for. In these times of uncertainty we’re following the advice from government and local authorities. We're adapting to ever-changing situations, and are truly grateful to have fantastic teams collaborating to support our customers, colleagues and partners all around the world.

In response to the prevention and control of the disease outbreak, we have already, or will shortly, close many of our stores. In stores that remain open or are re-opened, we’re prepared to respond quickly to any emerging situation.

We’d also like to share the good news that the non-profit @hmfoundation has donated 500,000 USD to the World Health Organization to help prevent the spread of this pandemic.

Please stay safe and take care of one another, wherever you are.”

Hanes

Hanes expects to ramp up to production of 1.5 million masks weekly, and the consortium of companies it has joined, led by Parkdale Mills America, is expected to ramp up to production of 5 million to 6 million masks weekly using HanesBrands’ design and patterns, the company said in a statement.

Dutch trade fair Modefabriek

The show’s organisers announced Friday that the upcoming show scheduled to run between 5 and 6 July will no longer go ahead due to the “enormous impact” of Covid-19.

Graduate Fashion Week

The Graduate Fashion Foundation has confirmed that it is cancelling Graduate Fashion Week 2020, as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.

A Facebook group "Czechia sews face masks"

Thousands of Czech women have joined forces via social media to sew face masks at home to help combat the spread of the novel coronavirus amid a dire shortage of medical materials.

“As a whole, fashion is a reactive conversation about culture - a mirror of the times in which we live. In understanding culture, our everyday lives will be enriched by understanding how we, and the world, are changing. ”

— Daisy H

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