Lilly Pulitzer Is Using Excess Fabric to Make Masks for Healthcare Workers
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began sweeping the globe, paralyzing economies, overburdening healthcare systems, and upending life as we know it, several of the world's biggest luxury fashion, jewelry, and beauty companies have joined the fight to help relief efforts. Some are recalibrating factories to produce masks, hand sanitizer, and other critical supplies; others are donating millions to nonprofits fighting the cause, from Doctors Without Borders to No Kid Hungry. Recently, Burberry joined the efforts by shifting the brand's Yorkshire production facilities to make masks and gowns.
Below we've compiled a list of all the major luxury brands that have pledged support against the coronavirus pandemic. It will be updated as new announcements are made.
LILLY PULITZER
The brand known for its bright and colorful prints is putting its resources to use by taking excess fabric and turning them into mask covers. To date, employees and factory teams have created more than 27,000 of them, which have been donated to healthcare workers at more than 60 organizations.
DE BEERS GROUP
The diamond company, which also owns Forevermark, will donate $2.5 million to coronavirus efforts in Botswana and Namibia, two of the partner countries where the company operates its diamond mines. Through a comprehensive Community Response Plan, De Beers will support these governments and communities by procuring medical supplies, providing food and water to the vulnerable, and offer other logistical support.
TIFFANY & CO.
Through its foundation, the heritage jeweler announced a $1 million commitment to COVID-19 relief efforts. The World Health Organization's Solidarity Response Fund will receive $750,000 while $250,000 will go to the New York Community Trust's NYC COVID-19 Response & Impact Fund, which supports nonprofits dealing with healthcare and food needs, as well as aiding arts and culture organizations. Any employee contributions will be matched dollar for dollar by the company.
GRAFF
The luxury jewelry brand has made a $1 million pledge to COVID-19 relief efforts, which will go directly to the Solidarity Response Fund to support vaccine research and testing, patient care, and medical worker supplies.
HERMES
Thanks to its robust cash reserves, Hermes will be paying its 15,500 employees their regular salary without need for government intervention. The iconic brand is also donating €20 million to Paris' public hospitals, along with the 30 tons of hand sanitizer and 31,000 masks produced in its factories.
DAVID YURMAN
With his wife Sybil and son Evan, the jeweler's eponymous family foundation has pledged $1 million to COVID-19 relief efforts starting with New York, the country's epicenter of the pandemic.
TOD'S
The Della Valle family, who own the luxury shoe and leather brand, will set aside €5 million for the family members of healthcare workers who lost their lives fighting the coronavirus pandemic. The fund, called "Sempre con Voi", will be managed by the Protezione Civile.
BURBERRY
The British heritage brand is using its Yorkshire factories to produce hospital gowns and masks. It has pledged to provide 100,000 masks for the doctors and nurses of UK's National Health Service and is using its resources to make nonsurgical masks and gowns for patients as well. Burberry is also funding coronavirus vaccine research at Oxford University and donating to food charities such as FareShare and The Felix Project.
CAPRI HOLDINGS
The owner of Michael Kors, Versace and Jimmy Choo pledged $3 million to the coronavirus fight. Two million dollars are coming from Kors to aid relief efforts in New York City: $750,000 each to New York University Langone and New York-Presbyterian hospitals, $250,000 to God's Love We Deliver, and $250,000 to A Common Thread, which was created by the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund to support the fashion community. In hard-hit Italy, Versace is pledging $400,000 to Milan's San Raffaele Hospital and $100,000 to Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, which is working on getting ventilators and other equipment to the country's hospitals. A few weeks ago, Donatella Versace also made a personal donation of €200,000 to the intensive care department of San Raffaele. In the UK, Jimmy Choo will give $250,000 each to the National Health Service and the World Health Organization's Solidarity Response Fund.
PVH CORP.
The owner of Calvin Klein, DKNY, and Tommy Hilfiger has pledged $1 million to COVID-19 relief, and is also supplying more than 2 million units of personal protective equipment to New York's Montefiore Health System. “As I work with our global leadership team to address a responsible plan forward for our business, how we execute it as good corporate citizens is an important part of our discussions,” said PVH Corp. chairman and CEO Manny Chirico, who himself is recovering from coronavirus.
RALPH LAUREN
In the largest donation yet by an American conglomerate to the COVID-19 fight, Ralph Lauren pledged $10 million, through his charitable arm, to various causes dealing with the pandemic, such as the World Health Organization's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, the Emergency Assistance Foundation (for his employees and partners who may need help covering medical, childcare and eldercare costs), and his company's Pink Pony Fund to support cancer organizations whose patients are especially at risk at this time. Ralph Lauren will also produce 250,000 face masks and 25,000 gowns for healthcare workers.
CHANEL
In France, which currently has more than 50,000 cases of coronavirus, Chanel has stepped up to start manufacturing gowns and masks for medical professionals and police officers. According to Health Minister Olivier Veran, the country goes through 40 million masks a week, and like everywhere else, is suffering from a shortage of them. The maison is also donating €1.2 million for French emergency services and Parisian hospital systems, and 50,000 masks for police officers, firefighters, and officials who visit hospitals.
KERING
The French luxury conglomerate said it was purchasing 3 million masks from China to donate to France's health services. It has also donated an undisclosed amount to disease treatment and research nonprofit Institut Pasteur. Labels owned by the company, like Balenciaga, Saint Laurent, and Gucci have also pledged to produce masks and supplies for hospitals in France and Italy. Gucci also donated €1 million to Italy's National Civil Protection Department to help create new ICU beds along with another €1 million to the Solidarity Response Fund. Its CEO Marco Bizzarri has given €100,000 of his own to hospitals in the Emila-Romagna region.
ESTEE LAUDER
The beauty conglomerate reopened its Long Island, New York, factory to start producing hand sanitizer for medical workers and other high-need groups. It also donated $2 million to Doctors Without Borders to support the organization's efforts to treat the virus in countries that lack the resources.
LVMH
The French conglomerate and owner of such brands as Louis Vuitton, Dior, Dom Pérignon, Givenchy, Guerlain, Bulgari, Moët & Chandon, Loewe, and Fendi (to name just a few) converted its perfume and cosmetic factories into those producing hand sanitizer for French authorities and public hospitals. It also ordered 40 million masks from China to distribute to the country's healthcare systems. Louis Vuitton, meanwhile, has employed 300 artisans to produce hundreds of thousands of non-surgical face masks in its France factories to be distributed to individuals in need, including elders in nursing homes.
BULGARI
Together with its fragrance partner ICR, the Roman jeweler is using its factories for high-end perfumes and hotel amenities to produce hundreds of thousands of bottles of hand sanitizer for Italian hospitals. The company has also made a donation to Rome's Spallanzani Hospital for it to acquire new state-of-the-art microscopes to further combat coronavirus.
FENDI
Along with a €250,000 donation to the Lombardy region, the company has collaborated with suppliers to produce non-woven masks to donate to medical workers in the Tuscany region of Italy.
MONCLER
The Italian label's chairman and CEO Remo Ruffini pledged €10 million to build a hospital in Italy's hardest-struck Lombardy region, which will be equipped with 400 intensive care units. Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi also donated the same amount to the hospital's construction.
GIORGIO ARMANI
The designer is manufacturing single-use medical overalls in his Italian factories and donated €2 million to hospitals around the country.
PRADA
Co-CEOs Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli donated two intensive care and resuscitation units each to Milan's Vittore Buzzi, Sacco, and San Raffaele hospitals. They are also producing 80,000 medical overalls and 110,000 masks for medical workers in Tuscany.
BROOKS BROTHERS
The American company has pledged to make 150,000 masks per day in its New York, North Carolina, and Massachusetts factories to donate to healthcare workers. "We consider this a duty, and part of our DNA at Brooks Brothers,” said Claudio Del Vecchio, the company’s chief executive, in the statement.
SAKS FIFTH AVENUE
Through its foundation, the department store is donating $600,000 to three organizations: $250,000 to New York-Presbyterian's COVID-19 Patient Care Fund to provide masks and ventilators, $200,000 to Bring Change to Mind to create virtual programs for high school students to keep them from feeling isolated, and $150,000 to Girls Inc. for social and emotional support for girls affected by the pandemic.
VALENTINO GARAVANI & GIANCARLO GIAMMETTI
Through their joint eponymous foundation, the iconic fashion duo are pledging €1 million to a new hospital, the Columbus Covid 2, being built in Rome dedicated exclusively to treating coronavirus patients.
MAYHOOLA
The Valentino brand's parent company (which also owns Balmain) will donate €1 million for a new ventilation system at Milan's Sacco Hospital to ensure sanitary conditions for healthcare staff. It has also pledged €1 million to disaster management organization Protezione Civile Italiana.
NORDSTROM
The department store is teaming up with one of their partners, Kaas Tailored, to enlist members of their alterations teams in Washington, Oregon, Texas, and California to sew more than 100,000 masks for healthcare workers and is also donating to COVID-19 relief efforts through organizations like the Seattle Foundation, Youthcare, and Hetrick Martin Institute. While all their stores remain closed, CEO Erik Nordstrom and his brother, president and chief brand officer Pete Nordstrom, will forgo their salaries until September.
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