Fashion brand Armani has said that it would start making single use medical overalls for hospital workers at all its Italian factories in an effort to support healthcare workers amidst the coronavirus crisis.
The shortage of protective equipment and other medical devices has been one of the biggest problems dogging the Italian health system since the contagion surfaced in the wealthy northern region of Lombardy in February-end.
The fashion house, run by designer Giorgio Armani, added it had increased to 2 million euros ($2.20 million), from an initial 1.25 million euros, the funds it donated to Italian hospitals to help them face the virus emergency.
A consortium of Italian textile and fashion companies, coordinated by business association Confindustria Moda, is soon expected to start producing million of protective face masks, with the aim of making Italy self-sufficient in manufacturing the masks.
The group – whose brands include Giorgio Armani and Emporio Armani – said they would be used for “the individual protection of healthcare workers engaged in the fight against the Coronavirus disease.”
Fashion powerhouses including Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Christian Siriano, Brandon Maxwell, Michael Costello and Prada are also getting hands-on to provide medical staff with face masks and gowns during the coronavirus outbreak.
LVMH, Louis Vuitton’s parent company will use its perfume production lines to start making hand sanitiser to protect people against the coronavirus outbreak.
Fanatics, the company that manufactures uniforms for Major League Baseball, has suspended production on jerseys and is instead using the polyester mesh fabric to make masks and gowns for hospitals in Pennsylvania and nearby states. Michael Rubin, the founder and executive chairman of Fanatics, was watching TV last week when he was struck by the idea to turn the 360,000-square foot facility in Easton, Pennsylvania, into a factory for the COVID-19 virus fight.
While Rubin considered how he could make it happen, St. Luke’s Hospital in Bethlehem reached out to Fanatics about the possibility of the company manufacturing masks.
