Burberry has entered the face mask fray.
The British heritage label became the first major luxury fashion house to create a collection of face coverings amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The reusable masks, which feature the brand’s famed Nova Check pattern, come in two colorways: the signature beige and pale blue. Each item costs 90 pounds, or about $118 at current exchange, and is sold with a matching travel pouch. Although the face coverings are not currently available for purchase, shoppers are invited to add it to their favorite products on the site and sign up to receive alerts for their drop.
According to Burberry, the protective cotton coverings are “sustainably produced from excess fabric” and enhanced with HeiQ Viroblock antimicrobial technology. The company pledged to donate 20% of the selling price of each mask to the Burberry Foundation COVID-19 Community Fund to support communities in need during the health crisis.
Over the past couple months, face coverings emblazoned with logos from luxury labels like Chanel and Gucci have cropped up on online marketplaces such as Etsy. However, the brands themselves have yet to release their own product as concerns have emerged over corporations appearing to profit from the pandemic with exorbitantly priced masks. (Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, a number of high-end designers including Off-White and Marine Serre had already produced their own face masks.)
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Beyond the donations, Burberry has already delivered 10,000 surgical masks to medical staff through the United Kingdom National Health Service. It also temporarily set up its trench coat factory in Castleford, Yorkshire, to produce non-surgical gowns and masks for patients in the U.K.
In March, the company shared that it was helping fund research for a vaccine that could potentially help protect against COVID-19. These funds, it said, would go to an emergency vaccine development team at the University of Oxford.
As the outbreak continues to take hold around the world, fashion and footwear brands have leveraged their resources by pouring funds into research, producing and delivering medical supplies, as well as supporting charitable initiatives to assist those unable to access basic necessities.
