LOCKDOWN LEADER: John Lewis
Amid the global pandemic, various fashion houses such as Barbour, Mulberry and Scottish fabric specialist Don & Low have been turning their hand to making hospital gowns and scrubs for frontline NHS workers. And now John Lewis is to reopen its Lancashire-based textiles factory to produce desperately needed PPE.
Fifteen expert sewers have been brought out of furlough by the much-loved department store to produce 2,000 clinical gowns a week clinical gowns instead of the usual curtains, pillows and duvets. The non-woven, laminated, medical-grade washable gowns made at the Herbert Parkinson factory will be delivered to the Northumbria NHS foundation trust – responsible for some nine hospitals and clinical centres in the north-east.
Sir James Mackey, the chief executive of Northumbria Healthcare NHS foundation trust, said: “We will be forever grateful for this support from John Lewis which will directly, and positively, impact on our frontline workers and patients – helping to keep them safe.
“It is clear, we can only tackle the challenges faced through utilising local channels and relationships to do so. It is this spirit of pulling together that has helped us to achieve so many things over recent weeks at pace and without any outside influence. We need to embrace with open arms all offers of help and turn these into actions that support our staff and patients.”
The department store is also donating over 20,000 metres of cotton fabric to voluntary groups making scrubs. John Lewis says it had already donated over 400 metres to other groups producing masks and scrubs for local hospitals and care homes.
Other UK textile companies, including For the Love of Scrubs and Scrubs Glorious Scrubs have been desperate to help, with the latter on target to make some 6,000 scrubs, courtesy of thousands of volunteer home-sewers.