L.A. brands Citizens of Humanity, Hedley & Bennett and Michael Costello, along with New York designers Brandon Maxwell and Christian Siriano, Italian label Prada and French conglomerate Kering, are making face masks and medical gowns.
“I’m trying to produce as many masks as I can with fabrics that we have in stock — cotton, neoprene and nylon — and I have researched fabrics that are OK to use, with higher air filtration effectiveness rates,” Costello said.
who manufactures surgical-grade masks in Calabasas at the rate of 60,000 per hour, according to the designer. The designer also said another friend, Beverly Hills-based eyebrow guru Anastasia Soare, is willing to offer space in her warehouse to help amp up production, while City Business Shipping in downtown Los Angeles has agreed to waive shipping fees.“I’m not looking for any fame, publicity, money. If I can just provide some funding for the seamstresses who have been so loyal to me for years, that’s my ultimate goal here,” Costello said. “At a time like this, I’m trying to force myself to be creative. Because if we can’t do what we love, let’s do what we can.”in Brea, said his company began to produce reusable cotton face masks last Wednesday to donate to hospitals and healthcare facilities “strictly at our own cost.” The company shipped 1,000 masks Monday morning, free of charge, to the office of L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti.AST has already donated more than 5,000 masks to hospitals, healthcare facilities and nursing homes in California as well as in Michigan, Texas, Nevada and other states. It plans to donate an additional 50,000 by the end of this week.“Up until Wednesday, I only made T-shirts,” said Rashid. “We had to readjust many of our machines. Last Friday, I had 30 new machines delivered to me and I have 80 more machines coming this week.”Starting Monday, through a Federal Emergency Management Agency project, the company will additionally produce 250,000 units per week of a face mask design approved by the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Hanes is manufacturing the fabric, which has an antimicrobial chemical added in the finishing process, that we will receive by the end of this week.”Dov Charney, chief executive of Los Angeles Apparel, said his company began to manufacture washable face masks five weeks ago at the 150,000-square-foot headquarters on East 59th Street in Florence. He noticed a shortage early. Now, more than 400 employees are making the masks andLos Angeles Apparel Chief Executive Dov Charney wearing a mask of his design at the company’s Florence headquarters. The Los Angeles Apparel cotton mask is available for purchase . The company is also selling wholesale to other businesses such as Albertsons and Pavilions. Charney has additionally donated thousands of masks to organizations in need. He said he sent a shipment by Uber to San Diego and has received calls from nurses and healthcare facilities in L.A., Seattle, New York and Las Vegas.“We spent a long time trying to find the right fit. I spoke to a lot of scientists and doctors,” Charney saidof his design, which has a metal nose piece. “We’re buying hundreds of machines, and I’m hiring hundreds of people. I hope by next week, if I really hit it hard, I’ll make 50,000 and then, the next week, we’ll try to get it to 100,000. The reality is that the United States needs about one billion textile masks, because the N95 is not comfortable and you need to change it several times a day. A textile mask you can keep. It’s kind of last resort but, at the same time, it’s like a pair of jeans. You can use it again.”Ellen Bennett, founder and chief executive of Hedley & Bennett, a workwear company that makes uniforms and aprons in the Vernon neighborhood of Los Angeles, is now producing face masks at her 16,000-square-foot facility. In collaboration with Dr. Robert H. Cho, chief of staff at Shriners for Children Medical Center in Pasadena, Bennett has designed a washable, cotton chambray face mask with an inner pocket that can hold a filter supplied by the wearer.“Not everyone has access to a HEPA filter, but there are many household materials that can help to filter viral particles — vacuum cleaner bags filter almost as well as a surgical mask does, and they are cheap and plentiful,” Cho said“Almost every hospital has run out of N95 masks. In the hospital, we have plenty of breathable, filtration materials that can be cut to fit inside this mask. I have seen a lot of people reusing N95 masks, but they are disposable and only meant to be worn for eight hours. If you use an N95 mask incorrectly and are not fit-tested, it can be worse than not wearing a mask, as all the air goes straight to your mouth.” Hedley & Bennett has donated masks to Shriners and is in talks with the Memphis, Tenn.-based St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. It also has thousands of masks in production for World Central Kitchen, celebrity chef José Andrés’ nonprofit foundation. On Monday, Hedley & Bennett posted a retail pre-order that would allow someone to buy one mask for $22 and have a second one donated. However, orders overtook capacity. Now the company is capping pre-orders by email at 1,000“Our team is ramping up to be able to make thousands of units per week,” Bennett said. “We are marching forward starting today, and we are having to activate on a grassroots level right now like never before, which is why we called it the Wake Up & Fight Mask. ... We just have to do what we can to contribute to this, even if we’re not a giant company.”After shutting down its Huntington Park production facilities on Friday evening, Amy Williams, chief executive of Citizens of Humanity, said the company has switched gears to create a face mask prototype out of 100% cotton , which she sent to City of Hope, Cedars-Sinai, Stanford Children’s Hospital, UCLA Health and other organizations. One version of the mask can be used over an N95 mask or worn separately. A Citizens of Humanity employee work to produce face masks at the brand’s headquarters in Huntington Park. A second prototype also includes a filter insertion pocket. Williams said she’s waiting to hear back from Garcetti’s office on a standardized mask design, which is being approved by a USC doctor. Williams said the company has received orders from San Francisco nonprofit Family House, which helps families of children with cancer, and upscale L.A. natural foods grocer Erewhon Market. The masks are being sold at the cost of production to nonprofit businesses and a higher price to for-profit businesses to help subsidize the price of fabrics and trims. For now, 15 seamstresses are at work on the masks. “Our factory is used to producing over 75,000 pairs of jeans each month, which are much more labor-intensive, so I think we can produce up to 150,000 masks a week,” said Williams, adding that gowns and other items might be next.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Christian Siriano Is Making Face Masks for Hospitals to Help With the National ShortageFashion designer Christian Siriano is stepping up with a solution to the face mask shortage problem: He and his team are making face masks.
Read more »
Fashion Fights Coronavirus: Designers Create Masks, Hospital Gowns and More to Fight PandemicSeveral designers are producing hospital gowns and protective masks to aid medical workers.
Read more »
Fashion Designers Create Protective Masks to Curb Coronavirus ShortageChristian Siriano, Brandon Maxwell and Prada are among the growing number of fashion brands using their sewing skills to make masks and medical gowns during the coronavirus pandemic
Read more »
Christian Siriano Is Making Face Masks for Hospitals to Help With the National ShortageFashion designer Christian Siriano is stepping up with a solution to the face mask shortage problem: He and his team are making face masks.
Read more »
On the front lines of coronavirus outbreak, medical workers fear rationing of masks will heighten risksDoctors and nurses on the front lines of the battle against coronavirus are increasingly anguished over the hospital-imposed rationing of masks, gowns and other protective gear, restrictions they say are exposing them to unnecessary risks at the worst possible time. At Anne Arundel Medical Center in
Read more »
Carmakers accelerate efforts to build ventilators, masks as coronavirus crisis deepensFord Motor Co. says it is partnering with 3M and GE Healthcare to speed up production of medical equipment and supplies for health care workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.
Read more »