WHOOP OF THE WEEK #3 - JOHN LEWIS

Give it up for John Lewis who has reopened their textile factory to make gowns for the NHS and donate over 20,000 metres of fabric for scrubs. Incredible scenes.

Their partners who usually sew bespoke blinds, curtains and pillows and duvets will this week begin making around 8,000 washable, clinical gowns for the Northumbria NHS Foundation Trust.

On top of this, the retail giant is also donating over 20,000 metres of cotton fabric from its haberdashery departments and distribution centres to “For the Love of Scrubs” and ‘Scrubs Glorious Scrubs’, groups who now have thousands of members who are making scrubs for the NHS. The donated fabric is expected to make around 6,000 scrubs, which is much needed!

Stuart McDonald, Head of Herbert Parkinson said; “We’re all looking forward to re-opening our factory and threading our sewing machines again to play our part in helping the NHS. We expect to be able to produce around 2,000 gowns per week.

“The fabric we are donating for scrubs could have no better use than to keep people safe. Over the past few weeks we have already donated over 400 metres of fabric to groups making face masks and scrubs for their local hospitals, pharmacies, care homes and communities. They have told us that this has enabled them to make over 3,000 face mask linings and 75 sets of scrubs.”

Sir James Mackey, 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 front-line 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.”

This isn’t the first time the NHS has seen their generosity. They have already created a wellbeing area for staff at NHS Nightingale London and worked with the BMA to deliver 60,000 essentials to key NHS staff. This week, the retailer will begin donating 250 electrical products such as coffee machines, kettles and toasters to the staff rooms and wellbeing areas at 25 acute London hospitals, and the Nightingale Hospitals in Harrogate. John Lewis has also designed two wellbeing areas and a multi-faith room for NHS staff at the Nightingale in Manchester and will deliver its donation of over 150 items of furniture for these rooms next week.

This approach does not go unnoticed. Bringing values-driven principles to business means you can be a part of making the world a better place. Thus, creating interesting and interactive content that can be used to position a brand as one that cares for the environment in which it operates. Atomising positive content earns consumer admiration and starts consumer conversations. With a strong reputation in communities, companies can improve consumer acquisition. All of these benefits generate sales. From an organisation’s marketing perspective, supporting a great cause enables it to target environmentally and socially conscious consumers. So, kudos to John Lewis. That’s for reading. Yours ethically,

Click Ethical Blog Squad