Burberry trench-coat factory to make coronavirus protection gear

Luxury fashion label Burberry is retooling its Yorkshire trench-coat factory to produce non-surgical gowns and masks in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

The supplies will be produced for patients and will be subject to approval from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Burberry is also working to leverage its existing supply chain to help deliver surgical masks, non-surgical masks and gowns for use by medical staff and patients in the UK.

The firm’s other contributions include funding research into a single-dose vaccine for Covid-19 developed by the University of Oxford with human trials scheduled to begin next month, as well as donations to charities tackling food poverty across the UK.

“The whole team at Burberry is very proud to be able to support those who are working tirelessly to combat Covid-19, whether by treating patients, working to find a vaccine solution or helping provide food supplies to those in need at this time,” said Burberry CEO Marco Gobbetti. “Covid-19 has fundamentally changed our everyday lives, but we hope that the support we provide will go some way towards saving more lives, bringing the virus under control and helping our world recover from this devastating pandemic.”

The contributions reflect luxury fashion house Ralph Lauren’s commitment to making face masks and medical gowns in the US via its Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation charity. The firm intends to produce 250,000 masks and 25,000 isolation medical gowns.