Fashion Caring: What Brands Are Doing to Help During COVID-19 Era

Welcome to the third installment of The Daily’s “Fashion Caring” update. We’ll be pulling together roundups of all the fashion, beauty, and lifestyle brands that are taking charitable initiatives to combat COVID-19 – and there’s thankfully so many! Check in with us every Friday to get the scoop on what they’re doing and how you can help.

LANCOME: The beauty brand is focusing on the most vulnerable to COVID-19: seniors. In a statement, the company announced: “We’re pleased to share the efforts of Lancôme’s National Makeup Artists that have come together to lift spirits for the residents of the Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) campus, a retirement home community comprised of 250+ people who have worked in the TV and film industry.” The MPTF created an interactive live broadcast on their in-house TV station where Lancome makeup artists, who can’t currently work share tips and tricks they can do at home in a hope to brighten their days. Recently Robert Cook, National Makeup Artist for Lancôme USA, did a video call with residents a way to easily de-puff eyes with cold spoons and how to re-moisturize dry hands by adding a few drops of olive oil into their cream. The segments have quickly become very popular with all the residents.

Robert Cook

JOHN ELLIOT: “My family has dedicated their lives to helping people, and it’s something I’ve always been inspired by. My dad, brother, aunts, and uncles are all physicians,” explained Elliot. “My sister-in-law is a physician at UCLA. In these difficult times, I asked them what we could do. Their response was to give to our local hospital and to support medical personnel on the front line who are putting others before themselves.” The brand has donated $10,000 to the UCLA Health Fund and are hoping to help raise that to $100,000 through sales from its Mainline collection. Offering a 25% off discount, they will take 10% of sales from the promotion and donate it to the charity which supports patient and family care, alleviates stress for frontline workers by providing them meals and other necessities, provides personal protective equipment, and “seed innovation through cross-campus collaborations that lead to advances in testing, treatment, and devices for COVID-19 and related health concerns.” Elliot added, “The idea we’re all in this together, that we should support our community, is something that feels urgent now more than ever. While donating to UCLA makes sense for us, if it doesn’t for you, we encourage you to donate to your local area hospital or charity of preference, and to continue to support small businesses.”

ONE LOVE MALIBU: “My goal in creating One Love Malibu masks was to make people feel good in a time that feels so uncertain,” co-founder Amber Farr said. “As a designer for Flynn Skye my goal has always been to make people beautiful.”  Each mask is reversible with a 2-layer fabric design made from 100% cotton that also contains an antimicrobial treatment. While currently only in adult sizes, kid masks are also in the works. One Love Malibu was first established two years ago when the Woolsey fires tore through the coastal community, leaving many homeless. Farr and fellow co-founder Tori Praver set out to make a place for the community to come together. This is the latest evolution of the project, to “create a community of like-minded individuals with a passion for giving based out of the Malibu community.”

CANALI: As a response to the COVID-19 emergency in Italy, the Canali Group has donated €200,000 to the San Gerardo Hospital in Monza through the brand’s nonprofit foundation Fondazione Canali Onlus. The foundation was created by the Canali family in hopes of giving a boost to a non-profit “instrument of social utility that expresses and conveys the ethical values and the human and social responsibilities that are important to the family and lie at the foundation of the Group.” Its initiatives span everything from medial research, support of health care, and social assistance.

AUGUSTINUS BADER: Founded by scientists and medical researchers, the company has created the #SmallActs campaign, which gave customers the opportunity to give a free cream to a recipient of their choice. The concept was to inspire people to think of someone who needs a little joy in their day from family to essential workers. 12,000 bottles have been donated to frontline healthcare workers too. This month the campaign has expanded to include a hand sanitizer that’s 60,000 units are all being donated to those in need with 20,000 going to healthcare workers. Customers can now also purchase it for someone they’d like to support. Plus, the #SmallActs campaign has been expanded as a new IGTV series center on “the small acts of self-care, kindness, love, wellness, and generosity that are keeping us going, and bringing much-needed joy to our days.” For all those who participate, the brand will donate to the COVID-19 charity of their choice.

POLKADOT ENGLAND & WYLD EMPYRE: These two separate companies are taking on more familial causes in the wake of COVID-19. Polkadot England will be donating a portion of sales to the YourMomCares charity all this month. The organization ensures that all children affect by COVID-19 have access to mental and physical health care while the proceeds from their mask sales are going to The River Fund NY which is dedicated to fighting hunger, homelessness, and poverty in dozens of city communities. Now it’s focusing on the pandemic which has caused an additional surge in the services they’ve currently supplied to over 15,000 families since 2019. Wyld Empyre is donating 30% on every single handbag sold to Baby2Baby that gives children, diapers, clothing, and other necessities. Touting a big group of celeb ambassadors like Jessica Alba, Drew Barrymore, and Nicole Richie, it has distributed “over 100 million items to children in homeless shelters, domestic violence programs, foster care, hospitals and underserved schools as well as children who have lost everything in the wake of disaster.”

Polkadot England

Wyld Empyre

LLANI: Founder, Alana Oates’ shoe line is made in India so she’s focusing her efforts on supporter her workers there. All of her designs are handmade so these people are essential to the brand. For every $50 spent on her site, the company will donate 50 masks to India’ COVID-19 protection efforts. “One of our favorite factories we work with has switched over their production to make protection masks,” Oates explained. “It is illegal to export these masks out of the country. When factory workers are on the production line, lunch and dinner is provided to them. By ensuring work, as well as masks, we are providing income as well as meals for the workers and their families. This production is not funded by the government, instead the factory owners themselves are incurring the cost. We would like to help them with their efforts.”

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