Malaysian designers make protective gear for frontliners

There has been an overwhelming amount of support from designers after doctors and nurses turn to plastic bags and cling wrap due to a shortage of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE).

President of the Malaysian Official Designer Association (MODA) and designer Melinda Looi stated that she received calls and messages from the local fashion fraternity wanting to do their part to help the Covid-19 Frontliners.

She also mentions on her Facebook page, “I will be starting to sew gowns… Gowns that are more valuable than gold at the moment… Thank you all frontliners, nurses and doctors. We hope we can contribute more.”

She also recently posted that her staff have made 200 pieces of gear in one day.

Datuk Radzuan Radziwill said each day he is able to prepare 50 pairs of PPE outer garments daily, with the aid of a doctor from the Serdang Hospital following the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO).

Rico Rinaldi is raising funds to help healthcare workers at Putrajaya Hospital, Selangor when he found out that the hospital needed help to build emergency modular chalets for Covid-19 patients.

Datuk Rizalman Ibrahim, who announced his retirement from dressmaking in February, uses social media to reach out to financially vulnerable families who need assistance during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Anyone who needs financial help can DM (direct message) me repeatedly to continue to buy food during these trying times,” he writes on in his Instagram.

However, to the overwhelming response, Rizalman said he was only able to transfer funds to dozens of recipients per day due to transaction limits, after his Instagram Inbox was flooded with messages just minutes after he made the announcement.

Khoon Hooi and his team of expert drafters, cutters and seamstresses have been working hard to manufacture 3,000 hospital gowns for Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) health workers.

“We are facing a pandemic on a global scale and healthcare workers are fronting this battle for us. The least us fashion designers can do is to support with our manpower and equipment,” says Khoon Hooi.

Khoon Hooi, like Datuk Radzuan Radziwill, also are making around 50 PPE medical gowns a day.

Celest Thoi, best known for her bridal gowns, is overseeing a team of 10 to 12 seamstresses, including some her own and volunteers, who have agreed to give their time to the same cause.

She also posts her progress and PPE updates on Facebook.

Lastly, Alia Bastamam has stated on her Instagram that she and her team will be making 600 medical gowns to send out to hospitals for our frontliners. She mentions that considers it a patriotic duty to support this initiative.

“I grew up near a hospital because my mother was a lecturer to medical students so this is an issue close to my heart,” she adds.

During the MCO, designers aren’t able to run their businesses as normal, but Looi adds that this is the time everyone comes together doing whatever they could for the country and the real heroes in this crisis.

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