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With a shortage of medical supplies, fashion designers are taking action! Many are collectively working to turn their fashion-producing factories and studios into making much-needed essentials, including face masks, hospital gowns, and gloves amid the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak. Prabal Gurung, Rachel Comey, and Brandon Maxwell are a few of the designers who have announced how they will be contributing to the aid of the current epidemic. On Sunday, the Council of Fashion Designers of America took to social media to encourage the fashion industry’s cooperation.
“An urgent message to our fashion community — there is a shortage of essential personal protective equipment (PPE) products and the CFDA is helping to connect designers and manufacturers to local agencies to help source materials and large-scale production capabilities,” read their caption.
That same day, Project Runway alumn, Christian Siriano, shared a screenshot of a New York Times headline mentioning he’s switching gears from making fancy gowns to hospital essentials. “We are working hard on this and more to come soon. We want to be safe and make sure all the legal requirements are met. Thanks everyone for all the support!” he wrote.
Los Angeles-based designer, Michael Costello was another who jumped at the opportunity of helping. “Focused. I have been here for the past 24 hours, glued to my machine in hopes of making prototypes of face masks. These are (Non-surgical grade masks). Let’s help prevent the spread of covid-19,” he wrote before adding, “We will not be selling any of these but rather giving them away to all first responders, hospitals, and healthcare providers.”
If anything positive has come out of the current pandemic is seeing how people are coming together. Communities of all sorts have unified as well as Hollywood, sports stars and artists alike have shown their efforts to save humanity. Here’s to hope!