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拉夫劳伦推出新品:医用口罩和隔离服

拉夫劳伦推出新品:医用口罩和隔离服

王波非(Phil Wahba) 2020-04-11
制作隔离服跟制作V领毛衣或羊绒披肩外套可不是一回事。

以前拉夫劳伦新款服饰交货通常要几个月,本周两款新产品投入制作的速度却相当惊人。两款产品是防护口罩和隔离服,提供给抗击新冠病毒前线的医务人员。

3月27日,总部位于纽约的美国时尚品牌拉夫劳伦宣布,将与供应商合作制作25万个口罩和2.5万件隔离服。北美和欧洲的门店将无限期关闭。与此同时,拉夫劳伦加入了布克兄弟、加拿大鹅、Jockey和Fanatics等服装品牌之列,像战时一样努力缓解必需品严重短缺问题。

当然,制作医疗级隔离服跟制作V领毛衣或羊绒披肩外套可不是一回事。因此,3月13日美国宣布进入紧急状态后,拉尔劳伦高管研究了美国食品药品监督管理局和疾病控制中心要求的规格,然后才开始投入生产。

“我们有供应链,不过之前主要用来制作服装和配件。我们并不知道怎么做个人防护装备,”拉夫劳伦首席供应链和可持续发展官哈利德•阿拉格茨告诉《财富》杂志。

要研究的问题主要包括:隔离服的防感染性能以及所需的材料。口罩方面考虑因素相似:要研究与普通宽松型口罩相比,应对新冠病毒的医疗人员对N95口罩的具体要求。(注:N95的意思是可过滤空气中95%的0.3微米以上颗粒物,也可滤掉新型冠状病毒。)

生产过程中,拉夫劳伦接受了美国时装设计师协会和美国成衣及鞋类协会的指导。拉夫劳伦研究清楚政府的规格后,向制造合作伙伴提交需求以了解各家的生产能力,其中包括改造机器制作口罩。

纽约一家名叫Ferrara Manufacturing的供应商挺身而出,该公司曾与拉尔劳伦合作多年。Ferrara表示,已按照食品药品监督管理局的要求对工厂进行深度清洁,支付工人工资,搭建工作区并调试机器。(拉夫劳伦将1000万美元新冠病毒救济金拨出一部分用于支持。)

纽约Ferrara Manufacturing为客户拉夫劳伦制作医务人员使用的口罩。

1990年以来,Ferrara一直为拉夫劳伦制作高端女装,还为美国运动员制作奥运会开幕式和闭幕式礼服。几天之内Ferrara便完成改造,上周四开始为医院制作隔离服,上周末开始制作布口罩。(Ferrara也向公众出售口罩,价格为25美元。)口罩可清洗数十次,所以能重复使用。

拉夫劳伦还跟Hanes等其他一些合作伙伴合作,Hanes捐赠了一些原材料。不过,多年来个人防护用品生产有不少转移到海外,美国服装制造能力也有所削弱,阿拉格茨意识到得更广泛撒网。毕竟,由于需求迫切,公司必须要实现承诺的产量,而且要迅速行动。

拉夫劳伦在美国制造的口罩主要用于一般防护,不适合医务人员或手术室医生。不过拉夫劳伦已指定一家亚洲合作伙伴引进防护效果更佳KN95口罩,该口罩经过美国疾控中心批准,可作为N95口罩的替代品。(上周美国食品和药物管理局发布了进口KN95口罩的紧急使用许可,协助解决口罩短缺问题。)

“我们意识到,要更快提供需要的装备,”阿拉格茨表示。

防护装备就绪之后,未来几天将运往纽约州、新泽西和北卡罗莱纳州,通过州政府分发给医院,因为拉夫劳伦三个州有大量雇员。

拉夫劳伦尚未承诺制作更多的口罩和隔离服。跟其他时尚公司一样,拉夫劳伦也在努力应对无限期关店的后果。上个财年公司销售额达到63亿美元,周一表示4月晚些时候将安排员工强制休假。首席执行官帕特里斯•卢维等高管已宣布临时大规模减薪。

不管怎样,拉夫劳伦还是希望尽可能做出贡献。“我们迫切想帮忙,提供一些支持和援助,”阿拉格茨说。(财富才中文网)

译者:Charlie

审校:夏林

以前拉夫劳伦新款服饰交货通常要几个月,本周两款新产品投入制作的速度却相当惊人。两款产品是防护口罩和隔离服,提供给抗击新冠病毒前线的医务人员。

3月27日,总部位于纽约的美国时尚品牌拉夫劳伦宣布,将与供应商合作制作25万个口罩和2.5万件隔离服。北美和欧洲的门店将无限期关闭。与此同时,拉夫劳伦加入了布克兄弟、加拿大鹅、Jockey和Fanatics等服装品牌之列,像战时一样努力缓解必需品严重短缺问题。

当然,制作医疗级隔离服跟制作V领毛衣或羊绒披肩外套可不是一回事。因此,3月13日美国宣布进入紧急状态后,拉尔劳伦高管研究了美国食品药品监督管理局和疾病控制中心要求的规格,然后才开始投入生产。

“我们有供应链,不过之前主要用来制作服装和配件。我们并不知道怎么做个人防护装备,”拉夫劳伦首席供应链和可持续发展官哈利德•阿拉格茨告诉《财富》杂志。

要研究的问题主要包括:隔离服的防感染性能以及所需的材料。口罩方面考虑因素相似:要研究与普通宽松型口罩相比,应对新冠病毒的医疗人员对N95口罩的具体要求。(注:N95的意思是可过滤空气中95%的0.3微米以上颗粒物,也可滤掉新型冠状病毒。)

生产过程中,拉夫劳伦接受了美国时装设计师协会和美国成衣及鞋类协会的指导。拉夫劳伦研究清楚政府的规格后,向制造合作伙伴提交需求以了解各家的生产能力,其中包括改造机器制作口罩。

纽约一家名叫Ferrara Manufacturing的供应商挺身而出,该公司曾与拉尔劳伦合作多年。Ferrara表示,已按照食品药品监督管理局的要求对工厂进行深度清洁,支付工人工资,搭建工作区并调试机器。(拉夫劳伦将1000万美元新冠病毒救济金拨出一部分用于支持。)

1990年以来,Ferrara一直为拉夫劳伦制作高端女装,还为美国运动员制作奥运会开幕式和闭幕式礼服。几天之内Ferrara便完成改造,上周四开始为医院制作隔离服,上周末开始制作布口罩。(Ferrara也向公众出售口罩,价格为25美元。)口罩可清洗数十次,所以能重复使用。

拉夫劳伦还跟Hanes等其他一些合作伙伴合作,Hanes捐赠了一些原材料。不过,多年来个人防护用品生产有不少转移到海外,美国服装制造能力也有所削弱,阿拉格茨意识到得更广泛撒网。毕竟,由于需求迫切,公司必须要实现承诺的产量,而且要迅速行动。

拉夫劳伦在美国制造的口罩主要用于一般防护,不适合医务人员或手术室医生。不过拉夫劳伦已指定一家亚洲合作伙伴引进防护效果更佳KN95口罩,该口罩经过美国疾控中心批准,可作为N95口罩的替代品。(上周美国食品和药物管理局发布了进口KN95口罩的紧急使用许可,协助解决口罩短缺问题。)

“我们意识到,要更快提供需要的装备,”阿拉格茨表示。

防护装备就绪之后,未来几天将运往纽约州、新泽西和北卡罗莱纳州,通过州政府分发给医院,因为拉夫劳伦三个州有大量雇员。

拉夫劳伦尚未承诺制作更多的口罩和隔离服。跟其他时尚公司一样,拉夫劳伦也在努力应对无限期关店的后果。上个财年公司销售额达到63亿美元,周一表示4月晚些时候将安排员工强制休假。首席执行官帕特里斯•卢维等高管已宣布临时大规模减薪。

不管怎样,拉夫劳伦还是希望尽可能做出贡献。“我们迫切想帮忙,提供一些支持和援助,”阿拉格茨说。(财富才中文网)

译者:Charlie

审校:夏林

While lead times for making new Ralph Lauren clothes and accessories are typically measured in months, this week two new looks for the fashion company went into production at breakneck speed: protective masks and isolation gowns for medical workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.

The New York fashion house, whose North American and European stores are closed indefinitely, announced on March 27 it would work with suppliers to make 250,000 masks and 25,000 isolation gowns. In so doing, Ralph Lauren joined the ranks of clothiers from Brooks Brothers and Canada Goose to Jockey and Fanatics in a wartime-like mass effort to alleviate acute shortages of these essential items.

Making medical-grade protective wear, of course, is not the same as making a V-neck sweater or a cashmere shawl cardigan. So Ralph Lauren, whose top executives were moved to act by the U.S. declaration of a national emergency on March 13, had to first understand the specifications required by the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control before leaping into the production of personal protective equipment.

“We do have a supply chain, though it’s built mainly for apparel and accessories. We didn’t know what it takes to produce PPEs,” Halide Alagöz, Ralph Lauren’s chief supply chain and sustainability officer, tells Fortune.

The issues to understand included how resistant a surgical gown needs to be in relation to the risk of contamination, and what materials that entails. As for masks, the considerations were similar: What are the specific requirements for the N95 mask (which derives its name from the percentage of particles 0.3 microns or larger in the air, including the new coronavirus, that it filters out) for medical professionals treating COVID-19 patients, compared with those of a loose, surgical mask used under other circumstances.

Ralph Lauren received guidance from the Council of Fashion Designers of America and the American Apparel & Footwear Association throughout the process. Once Ralph Lauren knew what the government’s specs were, it sent out feelers to its manufacturing partners to see who had what capabilities, including having machines able to make masks.

One of Ralph Lauren longest-standing suppliers, a New York company called Ferrara Manufacturing, quickly stepped up. Ferrara said it was ready to carry out the deep cleaning of its facility required by the FDA, pay workers, set up the workspaces and adjust its machinery. (Some of Ralph Lauren’s $10 million grant for COVID-19 relief has gone to this effort.)

And so Ferrara, which since 1990 has made high-end women’s wear for Ralph Lauren as well as its Olympic opening and closing ceremony clothing for U.S. athletes, within days retooled itself as a factory for hospital gowns, which it started making last Thursday, and fabric face masks, which rolled out this past weekend. (Ferrara is also selling the masks to the public for $25 apiece.) The masks can be washed up to a couple of dozen times, making them reusable.

Ralph Lauren is also working with a few other domestic partners, such as Hanes, which donated some of the materials being used. Still, given how much PPE production has moved overseas over the years, and the erosion of America’s garment manufacturing capabilities, it became clear to Alagöz that she’d have to cast a wider net. After all, the company needed to meet volume goals and move quickly, given the pressing need for the items.

The U.S.-made masks by Ralph Lauren are for general protection and not for personnel treating patients or for doctors in an operating room. But Ralph Lauren tapped an Asian partner to bring in the heavier-duty KN95 masks, a substitute for N95s the CDC has deemed acceptable. (The FDA issued an emergency use authorization for the importation of KN95 masks last week to help with the U.S. shortage.)

“We realized we need to be quicker in providing the units required,” says Alagöz.

Once these items are ready to be shipped in the coming days, they will be sent to New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina and distributed to hospitals via those states’ governments, since Ralph Lauren has a large number of employees in those states.

Ralph Lauren has not committed to producing more masks and gowns just yet. Like other fashion companies, it is struggling to deal with the fallout of having stores closed indefinitely. The company, which brought in sales of $6.3 billion last fiscal year, said on Monday that it will furlough employees later in April. Top executives, including CEO Patrice Louvet, have taken major, temporary pay cuts.

Still, the company wants to contribute as much as it can. “We felt an urgent need to be part of the solution to provide some support and relief,” Alagöz says.

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