The Kering Group is playing its part in combating the Covid-19 pandemic in France. In the days ahead, Kering will provide the French health service with 3 million surgical masks, which the Group will purchase and import from China. Meanwhile, the French workshops of Kering’s Houses Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent are preparing to manufacture masks while complying with the strictest health protection measures for their staff members, with production getting underway as soon as the manufacturing process and materials have been approved by the relevant authorities. With a view to providing a lasting response to the current pandemic, Kering has made a financial donation to the Institut Pasteur to support its research into Covid-19.

All these contributions follow those already made in China and Italy in recent weeks. On March 11 in Italy, Kering and its Houses made donations to the four major foundation hospitals in Lombardy, Veneto, Tuscany and Lazio.

More recently, Gucci responded to a call to fashion companies from the Regione Toscana for surgical masks and medical overalls, and could be able to donate 1.100.000 surgical masks and 55.000 medical overalls in the coming weeks, subject to relevant authorizations. On January 28 in China, Kering and its Houses announced a donation to the Hubei Red Cross Foundation to help fight the spread of the virus.