Luxury Fashion’s Battle Against COVID-19

Article by Kaitlyn Lai

Edited by Grace Kennedy

The shadow of COVID-19 over the luxury fashion industry reared its head during Fashion Week, where major fashion capitals witnessed the absence of Chinese retailers, reporters and buyers under heavy travel restrictions. Then a cluster outbreak of the virus in Italy in February marked the sharp escalation of an unprecedented global pandemic. On 23rd February  2020, Italian luxury fashion house Giorgio Armani issued an official statement announcing their decision to cancel their Milan Fashion Week show. Within weeks after that the world was under lockdown and was left no time to grapple with the engulfing virus. The luxury retail sector has lost billions to COVID-19, but the most prominent names in the industry are retaliating by stepping up to hold up our frontlines against the pandemic.

Frontline Fashion – looking beyond business in solidarity

In January, the early days of what was to become a global outbreak, the world’s biggest luxury conglomerate, LVMH announced a donation of 16 million RMB (about £1.8 million) to the Red Cross Society of China. They also supplied the Wuhan Anti-epidemic Center in Hubei province, ground zero of the outbreak, with medical materials. The LVMH Fashion Group in China joined a collective effort to donate surgical masks to the nation. Since then, LVMH and its Maisons in France and Italy have been quick to aid the world’s fight against COVID-19.

Over 300 leather good artisans have been mobilised by Louis Vuitton across its ateliers in France to produce large quantities of officially certified non-surgical face-masks, which are distributed to nursing and retirement homes to the senior population. At the Maison’s Paris headquarters, hospital gowns are created and distributed across six Parisian hospitals, which are facing serious shortages of protective medical gear. “We are proud to be able to help healthcare professionals at our level and put our know-how at the disposal of the Hôpitaux de Paris to create gowns for medical staff,” says Michael Burke, Louis Vuitton Chairman and CEO, “I would like to thank the artisans of our atelier who voluntarily participate in this civic act and who have been bravely applying themselves since this morning to equip healthcare workers in hospitals who are in need of gowns.”

LVMH’s Italian Maison Bvlgari, together with their historic partner ICR Cosmetics, has converted their fragrance production solely to manufacture hand sanitiser gel donated to hospitals and medical facilities in Italy and Switzerland. On 23 April, they announced that the same support will be extended to the United Kingdom through the donation of 160,000 units of medical grade hand sanitiser gel to the National Health Service (NHS), available at the beginning of May.  Bvlgari's CEO, Jean-Christophe Babin, voices out on their initiative: “Bulgari has always believed in the "intelligent hands" of those craftsmen and women who have made Italy the country of excellence in the luxury world ... Today more than ever, with the production of Bulgari hand cleansing gel with sanitiser in the ICR laboratories, those same hands become “brave” and make themselves available to doctors, nurses, volunteers.”

Being one of the first in the industry to lead fashion’s combat against COVID-19, LVMH remains firm in their decision and position to aid the medical frontline. In an official statement, the luxury conglomerate states that “LVMH will continue to honour this commitment for as long as necessary”.

  Fellow renowned French luxury conglomerate, Kering, fights alongside LVMH. Kering and its Maisons have announced a joint donation of USD 1 million to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Foundation to support medical workers in the United States. On top of their production of over a million surgical masks and gowns for Italian healthcare personnel, Gucci has made a 2 million Euro donation in support of two crowd-funding campaigns both locally, to the Italian Civil Protection Department #DipartimentoProtezioneCivile, and internationally, to the United Nations Foundation’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund in support of the World Health Organization through Facebook’s US$10 million Matching Fundraiser. Their donations will finance the source of ICU beds, the supply of personal protection equipment and the fast-tracking of vaccine treatments globally in face of the virus. Gucci’s Creative Director, Alessandro Michele, and President and CEO, Marco Bizzarri calls for the #GucciCommunity to join hands with the fashion house in face of COVID-19. “Gucci has created a world, open and free: a Gucci global community.” We ask all of you to be the Changemakers in this crisis, to stand together with us in the fight against the Coronavirus. We are all in this together.” Other Maisons under Kering, such as Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga, have also contributed their efforts by producing surgical masks in their French ateliers.

  Following suit, other big names in the industry have geared up to join the fashion’s battle against the pandemic. Prada has donated nearly 200,000 units of medical uniforms, 80,000 overalls and 110,000 masks to healthcare workers in Italy, all produced within the Prada factory. It is also supporting an education program, “All in, All Ready: Project Ready for Public Health Emergency” which aids to strengthen China’s capability of handling public health emergencies. Burberry has stepped in by donating over 100,000 surgical masks, along with non-surgical gowns and facial masks produced at the label’s trench coat factory. The label has also set aside funds to finance vaccine research at the University of Oxford. Chanel is working with over 80 non-profit partners worldwide, namely emergency funding “The Fund for Public Schools – NYC Schools COVID-19 Response Effort” to support the needs of the 114,000 homeless children in New York City as they transition to continuing their education through virtual learning.

 Vogue Editor-In-Chief, Anna Wintour, shares an emotional response to the fashion industry’s role in this global battle. “Positivity is such a precious commodity right now, but I felt something close to pure joy in recent days,” Wintour said, “I have never been more proud of our industry.”

  

The survival of the fittest: consumer demands in a new normal

Luxury fashion’s battle in this time does not stop at charity – it extends to the changing scenes in online fashion retail. The physical confinement of consumers under international social distancing mandates has shifted the dynamics of global shopping habits. Lyst has just released its report for the first quarter of 2020, and it may come as no surprise that Off-White has been named fashion’s hottest brand. In Lyst’s first-quarter index, this very mask claimed the name of the “hottest men’s product”. Consumer searches for masks on the platform have gone up over 400% only within a mere four months. Just over the past weekend, there has been a commotion across Twitter and Instagram over the signature Off-White Arrow Logo Face Mask, which was priced at over $1,000 USD on Farfetch, with its original retail price being $85 USD. The mask, offered by a third-party seller sparked consumer outrage across the internet, which eventually prompted Farfetch to remove the excessively priced item off their platform. 

 Moreover, according to The Lyst Index, data has shown an uptick in interest in lounge or comfort wear. The report reveals that Nike, who has climbed nine places into third place behind the Virgil Abloh-helmed brand and Balenciaga has reached its current sport due to a sharp increase in consumer demand for clothing items such as hoodies and sweatpants. Sweatshirts, fleeces, track pants, and robes from Gucci, Thom Browne, Loewe, Versace, Nike, and Anine Bing all rank in Lyst’s hottest-item chart both men and women. Meanwhile, the women’s Balenciaga Track Logo Mesh sneaker in pink, which retails for $895 sold out instantly while still in pre-sale, a corroboration of accelerating luxury athleisure trends.

Above: Sporting Goods Collection for Art of Living: Dumbbells and Jump Rope Christopher (Louis Vuitton United Kingdom Official Website) 

Louis Vuitton was quick to act in response to these changing consumer demands. The French fashion house has just unveiled their designer sporting goods collection available worldwide, which ranges from a £425 skipping rope to a pair of £1,730 dumbbells, have handles fashioned with the Monogram Eclipse canvas with a black and grey colour scheme twist. 

Above: Monogram Tower (Louis Vuitton Official Singapore Website)

Louis Vuitton Singapore is also catering their less active audience with a games collection to help their consumers pass their homebound days in style... A highlight is their Monogram Tower – a £2,600 Jenga set that consists of plexiglass playing pieces in different hues of pink and blue, each embellished with iconic House motifs such as the LV logo and the Monogram Flower in silver. Other notable items include their £2,020 Dice Game Box, inspired by casino trunks, and what is probably the world’s most extravagant football table: the £37,000 Babyfoot Canvas, generously swathed in the iconic Monogram with gold accents, constructed by immaculately detailed hand-painted players inspired by the LV groom illustration from 1921, and their other football table is priced at £42,000.

Amidst the uncertainty of this global pandemic, luxury fashion’s battle will be one that challenges them to make a meaningful change in history beyond their logos rooted in opulence. At the same time, surfing trends will shore them through financially and leave them strong in the post COVID-19 market.