From today, all LVMH Perfumes & Cosmetics production sites across France – which includes Parfums Christian Dior, Guerlain and Parfums Givenchy – will “manufacture and distribute free hydroalcoholic gel in large quantities”, the company said in a statement issued over the weekend.
COVID-19 response – LVMH working with French authorities
LVMH said: “Given the risk of a shortage of hydroalcoholic gel in France, Bernard Arnault [company CEO] has instructed the LVMH Perfumes & Cosmetics business to prepare its production sites to manufacture substantial quantities of hydroalcoholic gel to be provided to public authorities.”
The gel would be delivered free of charge to French health authorities “as a priority” from today.
“Through this initiative, LVMH intends to help address the risk of a lack of product in France and enable a greater number of people to continue to take the right action to protect themselves from the spread of the virus. LVMH will continue to honour this commitment for as long as necessary, in connection with the French health authorities.”
European lockdowns amidst COVID-19 outbreak
Use of hydroalcoholic gels, along with regular hand washing, is one of the French government’s recommendations to prevent the spread of COVID-19, along with social distancing.
On Saturday 14 March, France ordered the shutdown of all non-essential businesses – a move which followed an earlier announcement to close all nurseries, schools, colleges and universities from today. President Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to make a further announcement tonight on next-step procedures for the country.
Spain took similar measures on Saturday with non-essential business closures and Italy has been in national quarantine since March 9.
Global beauty tradeshows impacted
Last week, Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna announced a second postponement of its tradeshow in Italy. The show is now scheduled to take place later this year in September.
Two other cosmetic tradeshows scheduled to take place in Shanghai – LuxePack and PCHi – were also postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak. And more recently, in-cosmetics Global set to be held in Barcelona this month rescheduled to June.
