A POPULAR PIVOT
CHRISTIAN SIRIANO AND DOV CHARNEY ARE NOW MAKING MASKS AND MEDICAL SUPPLIES
The American fashion industry went dark recently as stores and factories closed, both voluntarily and by government decree, to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.
Yet by last week, lights had flicked on again on both coasts as designers and manufacturers began to pivot from making dresses, jeans and bathing suits to making surgical face masks and other protective gear — even as US President Donald Trump addressed America, saying unspecified help would be on the way for hospitals that expect to be overwhelmed and under-resourced.
Los Angeles Apparel is making surgical masks and hospital gowns as well. Dov Charney, the company’s founder and the former head of American Apparel, hopes his 1.4-hectare factory can produce 300,000 masks and 50,000 gowns in a week.
Christian Siriano, the fashion designer, has reassigned his 10 seamstresses in New York. They are beginning to make masks and hope to produce a few thousand a week.
Swimwear company Karla Colletto had closed its factory in Virginia but planned to retool and reopen it shortly to help combat the critical shortage of personal protective equipment that faces hospitals and healthcare workers.
Although they make a strange trio — Siriano, the former Project Runway star and current host who has become famous for his inclusive approach to dressing and has been championed by Michelle Obama; Charney, the embattled chief executive who was once forced to leave his post, accused of misuse of funds and of knowingly allowing sexual harassment; and a high-end bikini manufacturer — the group of companies reflects as much as anything the current confusion over the best response to the coronavirus crisis and the way individuals are beginning to take action into their own hands. Or headquarters, as it were.
None of the three manufacturers are making N95 respirator masks — medical-grade protection recommended for medical professionals — although they are all responding to government calls for businesses to aid in combating the shortage of general medical supplies.
Charney and Siriano are each designing their own washable, reusable masks. They are not medical grade, although Siriano intends to make masks that meet US FDA standards as soon as he can acquire approved materials and patterns, and begin prototyping. Karla Colletto is planning to replicate masks made by 3M, using patterns and fabric sent from that long-established hospital supplier.
The moves follow the decision by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the European luxury giant, and L’Oreal and Coty, the beauty conglomerates, to use their facilities to produce large quantities of hand sanitiser for European hospitals. In Spain, Inditex, the parent company of Zara, is also looking into refitting its textile factories to make hospital gowns.
As an industry, fashion has been particularly affected by the mass business closings — and particularly active in offering resources to assist the fight against the coronavirus, stepping up as governments and the medical community scramble to respond to the crisis. In the same
way automotive factories and upholsterers were retooled during World War II to supply the military, fashion is rethinking its manufacturing capabilities.
THE SWIMWEAR STORY
“A week ago, our machines were humming along,” Karla Colletto said via phone earlier this month. During normal business times, her Vienna, Virginia, factory can produce 800 to 1,000 pieces of swimwear each week.
But like many other companies, as the coronavirus diagnosis count rose in the United States, the made-to-order swimwear company decided to cease production. Ten percent of its orders had already been cancelled and the rest postponed, said Lisa Rovan, a co-founder of the brand, with Colletto.
Yet as their facility went dark, Colletto and Rovan were formulating a plan to bring as many of their 40 factory employees (including two dozen sewers) as possible back to work making masks and gowns for hospitals in need.
“Because we have our own facility, we can be flexible and switch gears quickly,” Colletto said. That means separating machines within the factory to be 2m apart to help prevent transmission between workers, following Osha safety guidelines, and staying in communication with workers about any exposure to the virus.
They’re awaiting fabric and patterns for disposable surgical procedure masks and gowns from 3M, the company that also produces N95 respirator masks. Once the protective gear is made, both Colletto and Rovan said, they will not be able to sell it directly to hospitals, so the products will go through a hospital supply distributor. The sales will help fund the factory employees’ wages.
THE SIRIANO SITUATION
Last week, governor Andrew Cuomo of New York issued an appeal during his daily news conference for businesses to “get creative” and manufacture protective equipment. In response Siriano tweeted: “If @NYGovCuomo says we need masks my team will help make some. I have a full sewing team still on staff working from home that can help.” (Cuomo responded with a request to “follow back and we will DM you”.)
Siriano said he had been wondering how to help his employees, who were at home, and the chance to make masks was a way both to keep them occupied and to give purpose to their work.
Since then, Siriano has been in daily touch with the governor’s office, he said, as they work out how the masks should be made. He has 10 seamstresses who are working from home and are available to make the masks, which are intended both for hospital support staff and private individuals.
Siriano has continued to provide updates on Twitter; he said he was making “a few versions” to “help as many people as we can” and “get a perfect fit”. On Friday, he posted that “prototypes are happening”. The masks, which are made from a poly-lycra-cotton fabric that the company already had in the stockroom, are being tested according to regulations from the governor’s office.
“They have to be white, so they can be bleached,” Siriano said on a call from Connecticut, noting that they also had to withstand multiple washings.
He began manufacturing the nonmedicalgrade masks, and projects he can produce 1,000 by the end of the week. He is also hoping to get a special exemption to reopen his office to make the masks, after sanitising it and complying with official regulations, and is aiming to create medical-grade masks in the future.
THE VIEW FROM LOS ANGELES
On the West Coast, Charney began manufacturing his masks a few weeks ago when he became aware of the growing shortage in the market. Because his company largely produces T-shirts and other apparel for the music and merchandising industry, many of his employees already wear masks to protect themselves from the dust involved in textile manufacturing. He began to look into designing his own products and last week began production.
“These are not N95 masks, but they are the equivalent of surgical masks,” he said over the phone. Made from a sweatshirt-like fabric, they fit closely over the face and are held on by two straps with a metal adjuster on the nose. They are intended for reuse, which surgical masks are not, and are intended to be washed in hot water.
Charney is in talks with both federal and municipal agencies to supply large quantities of the masks. He said he had made deliveries to hospitals in Seattle, New Mexico, New York and Las Vegas.
Hospitals in Los Angeles receive the masks free; consumers can purchase them on the Los Angeles Apparel website for three for US$30 (1,000 baht). (The CDC recommends people wear masks if they are sick. People who are well do not need to wear masks and are encouraged to save masks for caregivers.)
THE NEXT FRONTIER
Even beyond manufacturing, fashion companies are using their manufacturing networks to find masks.
Both Inditex and LVMH have used their distribution networks to gain access to Chinese manufacturers of face masks; LVMH announced recently it had ordered 40 million face masks from a Chinese supplier, bound for France.
The first 10 million masks arrived last week and were underwritten by Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH. Inditex had shipped 10,000 face masks from China and were expected to ship another 300,000.
THESE ARE NOT N95 MASKS, BUT THEY ARE THE EQUIVALENT OF SURGICAL MASKS