All The Fashion Brands Helping To Combat COVID-19

This story was originally published on March 19, 2020.

Despite the fact that quarantine leaves ample time (and incentive) for online retail therapy, experts have already warned us of the crippling effect that COVID-19 will have on the fashion industry, not to mention the economy as a whole. Even so, that hasn’t stopped industry leaders, including LVMH, Prada, and Armani, from offering their factories, funds, and influential platforms to helping combat the effects of the novel coronavirus, which has already taken the lives of 8,249 people worldwide, according to The Wall Street Journal. Currently, there are confirmed 205,000 cases of COVID-19 across the globe.

Last month, Louis Vuitton Moët Hennesy, or LVMH Group, donated $2.2 million to the Red Cross in China. On Monday, they followed up on their aid by releasing a statement calling for all of their perfume and cosmetic factories to halt production on beauty products and instead begin producing hand sanitizer to be sent to hospitals worldwide. Hours later, Prada donated six Intensive Care Units to three separate hospitals in their home city of Milan, Italy, the country that currently has the second worst outbreak after China.

But the big luxury names aren’t the only ones willing to help out amidst the current global health crisis. Following New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio’s announcement yesterday that a shelter-in-place could be put into action in the next 48 hours, NYC-based designer Kerby Jean-Raymond of Pyer Moss took to Instagram to share two major actions he’ll be taking, effective immediately. First, Jean-Raymond will convert the Pyer Moss Manhattan offices into a donation center for n95 masks, gloves, and other medical-grade supplies.

“My sister was exposed to COVID-19 and her elder patients’ safety has been compromised due to some professionals having to wear makeshift masks,” his post reads. “One of the more alarming messages from a friend who is a doctor in Philadelphia stated that she and her colleagues have been using bleach to re-wash their masks.”

To combat that, Jean-Raymond is asking that his followers mail brand new packaged N95 masks and latex gloves to his offices at 242 W. 27th St. 7th Floor in New York, NY 10001. In addition, Pyer Moss will be donating $5,000 to purchase additional materials for the cause.

As the situation worsens on a global scale, we have hope that even more fashion brands will come out of the woodwork with their own unique methods for helping to combat the situation at hand. And we’ll be here to share them. Ahead, click through our running list of all the fashion brands doing their part to fight COVID-19.  

Ralph Lauren

The Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation recently announced a donation of $10 million to COVID-19 organizations and charities, including the World Health Organization COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. Part of said donation will also go toward funding the new Vogue/CFDA Fund for Small Fashion Businesses. The American heritage brand will also produce 250,000 non-surgical (for now) masks and 25,000 hospital gowns.

Valentino Garavani & Giancarlo Giammetti

Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti, the duo that founded Italian fashion house Valentino in 1960, have just announced that the Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation will be donating 1 million euros (roughly $1.1 million) to support the fight against coronavirus. “In such a dramatic moment for the whole world, we wanted to give our contribution to winning this crucial battle against this invisible, but terrible enemy,” Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti said in a press release. Specifically, the donation will go toward the new Columbus Covid 2 Hospital, a new healthcare site that's fully dedicated to the COVID-19 cases at Rome’s Agostino Gemelli University Policlinic.

Self-Portrait

Han Chong, the creative director and founder of NYC-based luxury brand Self-Portrait has pledged 10% of all online sales for the next 30 days to the National Emergencies Trust.

As an added bonus, the brand is also releasing a free digital coloring book for families to use as entertainment as their children are homeschooled.

H&M

When Swedish fashion brand H&M does something, they do it big. On March 16th, the brand's foundation donated $500,000 to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. Later, it was announced that the brand would begin producing Personal Protective Equipment (or PPE) products to be distributed to hospitals and healthcare workers worldwide. Lastly, H&M shared that they'd be donating their social media channels — to be clear, the brand's official Instagram page reaches ~35 million people — to global aid organizations in order to help them better spread their messages of health and safety surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mango

Spanish fast-fashion brand Mango announced earlier this week that it plans to donate two million face masks to hospitals around Spain in order to "mitigate the social, economic, and public health consequences" of COVID-19.

According to a press release, "the distribution will be carried out following Spanish Ministry of Health guidelines."
 

Alejandra Alonso Rojas

Madrid-based designer Alejandra Alonso Rojas is donating 30% of the proceeds from her brand's website to two charitable organizations: God’s Love We Delivery and No Kid Hungry. Both organizations benefit children and families who are currently unable to gain access to food because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Prada

According to an announcement on Monday by Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli, co-CEOs of Prada, the Milan-based fashion brand has donated six Intensive Care Units or ICUs to three Milanese hospitals: San Raffaele, Sacco, and Vittore Buzzi, which is a children’s hospital.

Giorgio Armani

Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani donated 1.25 million euros (equivalent to roughly 1.36 million U.S. dollars) to Milanese hospitals, including Luigi Sacco, San Raffaele, and the Istituto dei Tumori, as well as the Istituto Lazzaro Spallanzani in Rome. A portion of his donation will also support Italy’s civil defense otherwise known as the Protezione Civile, according to WWD.

LVMH

Apart from the fashion conglomerate’s $2.2 million donation to the Chinese Red Cross from February, LVMH is also offering up their perfume and cosmetics factories to instead be used for the production of hand sanitizer.

Chiara Ferragni

Italian fashion influencer Chiara Ferragni and her musician husband Fedez made a donation of 100,000 euros, or 105,000 US dollars, using a GoFundMe set up by the head of cardiovascular and general intensive care units at San Raffaele hospital in Milan. Ferragni shared the donation link with her 18.8 million followers, causing a massive rush of donations. Today, the page has raised 4,294,490 euros and counting.

Pyer Moss

Kerby Jean-Raymond, the creative director and founder of Pyer Moss, just announced via Instagram that he will be converting his NYC office and studio to become a donation center for N95 masks and latex gloves. He will also be spending $5,000 of his own money on gloves and masks to be sent to public health professionals in need.

KkCo

Los Angeles-based apparel brand KkCo will be donating 10% of all sales through April 30th to No Kid Hungry, an organization that is raising money to ensure that children nationwide have access to healthy meals. In addition, the brand will be offering 25% off site-wide as an incentive to shop small and donate to a good cause.

Abacaxi

Mindfully made NYC-based brand Abacaxi will be donating 15% of all sales through March 31st to The New Sanctuary Coalition, a fellow NYC organization dedicated to stopping the inhumane deportations and detentions of prisoners in the U.S, people who are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 given the poor sanitation and close quarters in prison.

SVNR

NYC-based jewelry and ready-to-wear brand SVNR will be donating 50% of its web sale profits to Meals on Wheels, an organization that provides meals to US seniors, for the foreseeable future.

Versace

Donatella Versace, alongside her daughter Allegra Versace Beck, donated $200,000 to San Raffaele hospital’s Intensive Care Units on March 13th. Back in February, the duo contributed 1 million renminbi, equivalent to about $143,400, to the Chinese Red Cross Foundation.

Bulgari

Rome-based jewelry brand Bulgari made a donation earlier this month to the Istituto Lazzaro Spallanzani, a research institute working to purchase a microscopic image acquisition system meant to prevent the spread of coronavirus, according to Vogue.

Marco Bizzarri

Gucci’s CEO Marco Bizzarri recently made a personal donation of more than $100,000 to go towards hospitals in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, an area that on March 18, reported 4,525 cases of COVID-19 and 461 coronavirus-related deaths.

from refinery29