Louis Vuitton Owner to Get Hand Sanitizers Flowing

LVMH will use its perfume production lines to help supply gels during coronavirus outbreak
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 16, 2020 9:50 AM CDT
Designer Hand Sanitizer Coming Soon to This Nation
Stock photo.   (Getty Images/Thanumporn Thongkongkaew)

It's difficult to find hand sanitizer during the novel coronavirus outbreak, but France may soon see some relief thanks to a major luxury-goods maker. The BBC reports that LVMH—owner of the Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Tiffany, and Christian Dior lines, among others—will "use the production lines of its perfume and cosmetic brands ... to produce large quantities of hydroalcoholic gels" starting Monday, per a statement from the company, which adds the products will be offered to health authorities "free of charge." In particular, the gels will be given to more than three dozen teaching hospitals that treat upward of 8 million patients annually, reports CNN Business.

Hand sanitizer in Paris' hospitals can still be found, but supplies are "strained," a spokeswoman says, per the Guardian, which notes that many pharmacies in France are now limiting each customer to just one small bottle. "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," the company notes. LVMH says it will keep pumping out the hand sanitizer for as long as it's needed. France, which has shut down its bars, restaurants, and nonessential stores amid the virus outbreak, had claimed more than 120 deaths as of Sunday, per France 24. (This guy hoarded nearly 18,000 bottles of hand sanitizer, and he's not very popular for it.)

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