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Sephora Lays Off Part-Time and Seasonal Employees (Estée Launrdy)
Yesterday, Sephora laid off many of their part-time and seasonal employees via a mass conference call, according to reports published by beauty industry watchdog @esteelaundry. When Sephora first shut their US stores in mid-March, they pledged that “all store employees will continue to receive their base pay for scheduled shifts for the duration of this closure. In addition, health and wellness benefits for employees who are currently enrolled will continue.” At the time, Sephora seemed to think their stores would reopen on April 4.
In a statement, Sephora Americas president and chief executive officer, Jean-André Rougeot, said those let go had “been with our company for a short tenure and worked limited hours.” The statement also said those employees would receive severance and “resources to support their transition.”
For now, Sephora’s remaining 9000+ US store employees will continue to be paid 100% based on their average hours worked and receive any existing health benefits through late May or until the stores reopen.
Capri Holdings and PVH Corp Donate Millions to Aid COVID-19 Relief Efforts
The fashion luxury group is giving a combined $3 million to various charities through its brands: Michael Kors, Versace, and Jimmy Choo.
“Our hearts and souls go out to those who are working on the front lines to help the world combat the COVID-19 pandemic,” said John D. Idol, chairman and chief executive officer of Capri Holdings Limited. “We thank them for their remarkable dedication and courage and want to support them and the hospitals where they work. We also aim to strengthen organizations dedicated to helping the community. This is clearly a time for people to come together in every way and on every level, because we are all stronger in our united resolve.”
To that end, Michael Kors is donating $2 million to support relief efforts in New York City: $750,000 to NYU Langone Health, $750,00 to New York-Presbyterian Hospital, $250,000 to God’s Love We Deliver, and $250,000 to A Common Thread, the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund for COVID-19 Relief. Versace is donating $400,000 to San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italy and $100,000 to Camera Nazionale Della Moda Italiana, which is working to supply ventilators and other necessary medical equipment to Italy’s hospitals. Jimmy Choo is donating $250,000 to the UK’s National Health Service and another $250,000 the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
Lupita Nyong’o and Michael Kors at an event for God’s Love We Deliver, 2019 (Getty Images)
PVH Corp., which owns Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, and DKNY is also committing $1 million to COVID-19 relief. “As I work with our global leadership team to address a responsible plan forward for our business, how we execute it as good corporate citizens is an important part of our discussions,” said Manny Chirico, chairman and chief executive officer of PVH Corp. “There is no roadmap for this crisis, but I know that at PVH we have strong values and connections to our communities.”
PVH has also started shipping more than 2 million units of personal protective equipment to the Montefiore Health System in New York to support healthcare workers and has made numerous other contributions domestically and internationally.
Tommy Hilfiger (Getty Images)
Fashion Brands Shift Production to WFH Clothing (Glossy)
With everyone working from home, certain types of clothing just aren’t selling anymore, but the loungewear business is booming. At least comparatively. “Loungewear, kind of suddenly, became the most important category for us, by far,” said Lively founder Michelle Cordeiro Grant, who has seen a 200% increase in loungewear sales since March 1. “So we immediately began working to make sure it was supported. We’ve been shifting our supply chain, shifting our content and marketing, all of it to focus on the people who are sheltering and working at home.”
What Is an “Essential Business” Anyway? (Business Insider)
Over 30 states have now imposed restrictions on what businesses can stay open during the coronavirus outbreak, but exactly qualifies as a “essential business” varies from state to state, particularly when it comes to businesses like restaurants and bars, liquor stores, construction, marijuana dispensaries, gun stores, and home office supply stores.
Fashion’s Impending Humanitarian Crisis (Business Fashion)
With western brands cancelling production orders during the coronavirus crisis, garment factories in Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, and Cambodia, have lost billions of dollars in orders overnight, causing already vulnerable workers in the industry’s supply chain to face a very real risk of unemployment, hunger, and disease. “I can’t even express how afraid I am when I think that factories could close,” said Kalpona Akter, a labor-rights activist and founder of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity. “I don’t know if workers don’t get paid what they’ll eat.”
Workers in a garment factory in Bangladesh making PPE, March 31, 2020 (Shutterstock)
H&M Awards 1 Million Euros to Grow Sustainble Textile Tech Ventures (WWD)
The need to save the planet is just as urgent now as it has ever been and H&M is taking steps to fund the important work being done by a handful of sustainability-minded business ventures — from Galy, which uses biotech to create lab-grown cotton, to Werewool, which specializes in making stretchy fabrics from protein DNA.
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