Gucci's factory, owned by the Kering group, is also preparing to produce more than 1 million masks and 55,000 medical protective suits in Italy, after receiving approval from health authorities. Although on March 22, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced the temporary suspension of some factories that do not produce essential goods during the epidemic.
The French group Kering, which produces Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent, will also begin producing masks there once it has been approved. They will have to follow the strictest protective measures to protect their employees.
As the Covid-19 pandemic spreads across Europe, the top priority of luxury brands is to join hands in fighting the epidemic.
Kering has also donated to hospitals across Italy that are struggling to control the pandemic, and the group has also donated money to the Pasteur Institute, a private French non-profit, to support Covid-19 research.
Several European companies are providing funding to convert their factories to produce essential supplies for doctors and nurses to meet the growing demand for treating the growing number of corona infections.
Previously, luxury conglomerate LVMH also announced that it would provide 40 million masks to France, an item in severe shortage. Accordingly, the first 10 million masks, including 7 million medical masks and 3 million FFP2 masks, will be delivered in the next few days. Similar orders will be delivered every week. LVMH has also used its perfume and cosmetics production facilities for Christian Dior and Givenchy in France to produce large quantities of hand sanitizer for health authorities as part of its contribution to the fight against the epidemic.
Prada announced on March 23 that it will produce 110,000 masks and 80,000 protective gowns to give to medical staff in the Tuscany region (Italy) until at least April 6.
Guerlain and L'Oréal - the world's leading cosmetics manufacturers and distributors - also announced that they would convert their perfume, makeup and skincare factories into production lines for hand sanitizer and antiseptic gel to help prevent the shortage of hand sanitizer during the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe. Guerlain also said that they would donate antiseptic gel to hospitals in France in the hope of protecting doctors, nurses and hospital staff who are on the front lines in the fight against the epidemic.
L'Oréal, Coty and other brands are also producing hand sanitizer at factories that make perfumes or beauty products.
In addition to luxury brands, many affordable fashion brands are also joining the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Clothing and accessory factories will be converted to produce medical products.
H&M said it would work with the European Union to find out which products are most needed right now. If it were to get involved in mask production, the brand could take advantage of external sources and regular supplies.
H&M brand will participate in the production of medical equipment
In a joint effort, several factories that produce fabrics for fashion brand Zara will convert to producing medical materials, while retailer Mango has pledged to provide 2 million antibacterial masks to hospitals and medical facilities across Spain.
After the Covid-19 outbreak in Spain, Zara brand owner - Inditex - announced to sew protective clothing and masks for patients and medical staff.
In addition, some small fashion brands in the US are also starting to produce medical-grade masks. Designer Christian Siriano told the New York Times that he plans to produce masks that meet the standards of the US Food and Drug Administration as soon as he has the materials and designs. In addition, he is also the pioneer designer who created the first mask model made from poly-lycra-cotton synthetic fabric from the company's warehouse. Currently, this mask model is being inspected "according to regulations from the New York government agency".
