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Luxury companies have repurposed factories to assist the fight against the COVID-19 coronavirus. In the United States, the Estée Lauder Companies said they had reopened manufacturing facilities in Melville, New York to produce hand sanitizers.

DIAMOND, JEWELRY AND LUXURY INDUSTRIES STEP UP IN BATTLE TO CONTAIN AND DEFEAT COVID-19

 

With the worldwide battle to contain and defeat the COVID-19 coronavirus in full swing, the diamond, jewelry and luxury industries are stepping up their efforts to support public health and the medical teams out in the field, and well as dealing with the economic fallout from the pandemic. 

In Botswana, the country’s largest diamond mining company, Debswana, which is jointly owned by the government and De Beers, has announced that is making facilities available for the government to use as treatment or isolation centers. This includes the use of two of its ambulances and providing databases of retired medical who previously had worked in Debswana-run hospitals near the Jwaneng and Orapa mines.

De Beers also announced that it would support vulnerable households in Botswana and Namibia, giving their governments money to fight the virus. The company says that it will contribute $2.5 million across Botswana and Namibia to the COVID-19 effort.

“Society is facing the greatest threat to global health in a century,” said Mark Cutifani, CEO of Anglo American, which is De Beers majority shareholder. “Safety is at the heart of all that we do at Anglo American, and we are doing all that we can to safeguard our people and their families from the spread of COVID-19, while also providing support to our host communities and countries where it’s most needed.”

At its Maidenhead facility in the United Kingdom, De Beers is making parts for face shields for health care workers, using 3D printers that are usually used to create parts for synthetic-diamond detection machines.

REPURPOSING TO PRODUCE HAND SANITIZER AND FACE MASKS

On March 13, the French government has issued a call to industry in the effort against COVID-19. Within just three days, LVMH announced that it had already manufactured 15 tons of sanitising at production sites for Parfums Christian Dior, Givenchy and Guerlain. Soon afterwards, the company reported that it was able to produce 50 tons per week for hospitals in the Paris area. 

In the United States, the Estée Lauder Companies said they had reopened manufacturing facilities in Melville, New York to produce hand sanitizers for “high-need groups and populations.” 

LVMH also released a that it ordered 40 million masks from a Chinese industrial supplier “to help address the surgical mask shortage France is currently facing.”

Kering was another luxury product producer that repurposed several of its factories to contend with the crisis. It announced that the French workshops of Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent would manufacture masks “while complying with the strictest health protection measures for their staff members” and that it will “provide the French health service with three million surgical masks, which the group will purchase and import from China”. 

The Kering-owned Italian brand Gucci said that it would  produce and donate 1.1 million surgical masks and 55,000 medical overalls, and the  Prada Group will make 110,000 masks and 80,000 medical overalls. 

At its Maidenhead facility in the United Kingdom, De Beers has been making parts for face shields for health care workers, using 3D printers that are usually used to create parts for synthetic-diamond detection machines.

French cosmetics conglomerate L’Oréal, which is the the biggest beauty company in the world,  said that its La Roche-Posay brand is supplying hospitals, care homes and pharmacies in Europe with hand sanitizer.

Through its own charitable foundation, jewelry company Tiffany & Co. is allocating $750,000 to the World Health Organization, and 0,000 to the New York City COVID-19 Response & Impact Fund.

NEW YORK‘S MOST ICONIC JEWELER PUTS UP $ 1 MILLION

New York City is the metropolitan areas that has been hardest hit by the COVID-19 corona virus, possibly its most iconic jewelry company has announced that it too will be joining the campaign against the pandemic. 

Tiffany & Co. has announced that it is donating $1million to fight the disease and added that it will match dollar for dollar any contributions by its 13,000 employees.

Funneling the funding through its own philanthropic foundation, Tiffany said that it would be allocating $750,000 from its COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund to the World Health Organization, and 0,000 to the New York City COVID-19 Response & Impact Fund.

“During this global health crisis, we must all be responsive to the urgent needs of our global communities,” stated Anisa Kamadoli Costa, Chairman & President, The Tiffany & Co. Foundation. “We are proud to support organizations providing immediate relief for communities impacted by COVID-19, including our hometown of New York.”

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