How Fashion and Beauty Brands Are Responding to COVID-19
Written by Maxine An
Only four months into this new decade, COVID-19 will be what 2020 will be remembered for. Hearing the number of cases grow at a concerning rapid pace with no expectations of decline any time soon, public gathering settings such as restaurants, movie theaters and shopping malls have been closed, the unemployment rate has soared, and an economic downturn is widespread across the globe.
As the world battles the current coronavirus crisis, basic hygienic products are low in supply. Doctors and nurses are unable to protect themselves while attending to patients with the shortage of face masks, medical gowns and hand sanitizer. As an effect from this, top renown fashion designers and beauty product manufacturers are using their manufacturing factories to help put these products back in the hands of health professionals.
Christian Siriano, former Project Runway winner, is just one designer who has added face masks to his impressive list of fashion pieces and accessories, according to CBS News. He has stopped producing his usual couture evening gowns and cocktail dresses to start to manufacture face masks and other medical supplies. Not only that, but Christian Siriano said that he will be refining his manufacturing process and will start by getting approval from the Food and Drug Administration before his company starts to produce face masks seriously.
Along with Christian Siriano, Ralph Lauren, an American fashion company, announced that the Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation will be making 250,000 face masks and 25,000 isolation gowns in the United States as the death toll continues to rise. According to Newsweek, the foundation has also donated $10 million to numerous charities, including the World Health Organization COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, in an effort to help fight the coronavirus epidemic.
Smaller apparel companies, such as Love Your Melon, are also contributing to this health emergency. They announced in late March that it would be producing 50,000 cotton face masks for hospitals and care facilities. They hope that the masks will “provide comfort and security while serving as an additional line of defense to airborne droplets,” according to Softline, the manufacturer for the brand’s face masks. An upside to these face masks is that they can be machine washed and therefore, reusable.
Face masks are not the only products in demand right now as health professionals need other supplies to stay safe as well. Luxury fashion label Brandon Maxwell has started to manufacture medical gowns. Page Six Style said that the team even released a statement that addressed the concern of the functionality of the gowns. They had spent an abundance of time researching the “appropriate medical textiles” that would enable these gowns to be effective. It comes to show that not only does the quantity of medical gowns matter, but the quality of them is just as important. They are the key source of protection that hospital staff rely on daily.
Lastly, a shortage of hand sanitizer in the United States is part of the concern as well. LVMH, the parent company of Givenchy, Louis Vuitton and Dior, has stopped all production of perfumes and cosmetics and has dedicated those same facilities into making hand sanitizer instead of luxury fragrances. According to Allure, this top fashion label will be giving all the sanitizers they manufacture to “French health authorities and the Assistance Publique-Hospitaux de Paris” in order to provide a free supply to 39 hospitals. They are hoping to address the risk of the shortage of hand sanitizers and other medical supplies in France as well as encourage more people to make wiser decisions as to protect themselves from contracting the virus.
Not only that, but the founder of Capsule Parfumerie and owners of the L.A. store Orris Perfumery on Melrose Avenue in California, Linda Sivrican, has decided to make “natural sanitizing perfumes with a 70% organic alcohol base” when she saw the lack of hand sanitizer products on the market during the pandemic. Sivrican told the LA Times that the perfumes are to be sprayed directly on the fingers and palms, but should be done in addition to hand washing with soap and water.
While both fashion and cosmetic brands have generously adapted their production processes to the current health situation, their actions have demonstrated the urgent need of medical supplies and protection gear for the people at the front lines of this pandemic. Even though COVID-19 will get worse before it gets better, these labels have decided to help those in need at a time like this. I hope that more brands, both luxury and retail, will contribute to the crisis by temporarily stopping their usual production of apparel or cosmetics and starting the manufacture of medical supplies.
