LVMH to supply several million surgical masks in France to help the fight against the spread of coronavirus.
@LVMH
By virtue of its global distribution network, LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SE also known as LVMH, the French multinational corporation and conglomerate specializing in luxury goods, has managed to secure an order with a Chinese industrial supplier for a delivery of 10 million masks in France in the coming days (seven million surgical masks and three million FFP2 masks). LVMH is the parent company of Christian Dior, Fendi, Bulgari Watches, Louis Vuitton and other big names is all the segments of the luxury industry (Fashion & Leather goods, Wines & Sprits,Perfumes & Cosmetics,
Watches & Jewelry, selective retail, Hotels, Luxury Yachts, Financial Paper).
The order will be repeated for at least four weeks in similar quantities (ie approximately 40 million masks). In order to secure this order during an extremely tense period and to ensure that production begins today, Bernard Arnault, the chairman and chief executive of LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SE, arranged for LVMH to finance the whole of the first week of deliveries, amounting to five million euros.
“The LVMH Group will assume management of the supply chain, delivery and custom clearance for all subsequent deliveries. LVMH should be in a position to dispatch the first masks to French health authorities early next week as a result of the additional funding and the Group’s ability to rapidly deploy its network,” announced the luxury group.
Last week, LVMH announced the group will manufacture and distribute tons of free hydroalcoholic gel. LVMH will use all the production facilities of its Perfumes & Cosmetics brands (Parfums Christian Dior, Guerlain and Parfums Givenchy) in France to produce large quantities of disinfectant gel from this week.
The anti-bacterial gel will be delivered free of charge to the French health authorities and as a priority to the Assistance Publique- Hopitaux de Paris.
With a view to providing a lasting response to the current pandemic, Kering, which includes Gucci, also contributes to the fight against Covid-19.
In the days ahead, the luxury group will provide the French health service with surgical masks and its preparing to manufacture new ones—while complying with the strictest health protection measures for their staff members—and made a financial donation to the Institut Pasteur to support its research into Covid-19. This contribution follows those already made in China and Italy in recent weeks.
On March 11 in Italy, Kering and its luxury Houses (Bottega Veneta, Pomellato, Balenciaga, Boucheron, Alexander McQueen, among many others) made donations to the four major foundation hospitals in Lombardy, Veneto, Tuscany and Lazio.
More recently, Gucci responded to a call to fashion companies from the Tuscany Region for surgical masks and medical overalls, and aims to donate to 1.1 million surgical masks and 55.000 medical overalls in the coming weeks, subject to relevant authorizations. On January 28 in China, Kering and its Houses announced a donation to the Hubei Red Cross Foundation to help fight the spread of the virus.
