In our latest update on how brands are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re sharing details from Louis Vuitton, Zegna Group, Parmigiani Fleurier, and more.
As LVMH cancels its seventh annual award ceremony as a result of COVID-19 circumstances, it announced that this year’s LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers will be awarded and evenly distributed to all eight finalists—Ahluwalia by Priya Ahluwalia, Casablanca by Charaf Tajer, Chopova Lowena by Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena, Nicholas Daley, Peter Do, Sindiso Khumalo, Supriya Lele, and Tomo Koizumi by Tomotoka Koizumi. Additionally, the LVMH Prize has established an aid fund for young fashion designers supplemented by the 2020 Karl Lagerfeld Prize. Upon application, it will benefit the winners of the prize’s six previous editions.
Courtesy of East-West Riverside Hotel.
The Zegna Group and Fondazione Zegna have joined the fight against the Coronavirus, manufacturing protective suits for hospital staff at workshops in Switzerland and Italy. Partnering with Italy’s Biella textile district and Unione Industriale Biellese, the group is projecting to produce 280,000 for healthcare workers in the Piedmont region and Canton Ticino.
In response to new regulations that ask the public to wear face coverings outside, The Mighty Company is making an array of design-friendly masks. Created using the brand’s archival fabrics from French mill Malhia Kent, the masks are CDC-compliant and lined with antimicrobial cotton. For every mask sold, The Mighty Company will donate one to Los Angeles homeless shelter Midnight Mission. Upon release, the masks were so popular they sold on, so founder Jessie Willner is creating more. Additionally, the brand is donating 20 percent of all sales to Feeding America.
Photo by Andrew Zaeh, courtesy of Mace.
Ippolita joined a community of jewelers in support of No Kid Hungry’s #LINKED campaign. The brand will contribute 10 percent of its online sales to help the movement, which aims to band together with other jewelers to ensure that all children have meals.
Watchmaker Parmigiani Fleurier launched the Helping Heroes program for the support of healthcare institutions in North America. Instead of making a straight-forward purchase of a timepiece, brand supporters can make a tax-free donation to an approved hospital or nonprofit of their choice, which is then applied as a credit toward a watch. Additionally, the brand is supporting its retailers as they work from home by enabling customers to select a physical location during an online purchase, then accrediting the store for the sale of the watch.
Following the footsteps of its French ateliers, Louis Vuitton’s U.S.-based workshops—in New Jersey, Texas, and California—have all been switched gears to create non-surgical face masks. The reusable, adjustable cotton masks will be distributed in U.S. locations most affected by the pandemic.
