In light of the coronavirus pandemic The L’OCCITANE Group, a pioneer in beauty and well-being products using natural ingredients has donated over 10,000 hand creams to NHS / HSE staff across the UK & Ireland and has decided to reassign some of its facilities to manufacture 70,000 litres of hand sanitiser.

Large-scale production of hand sanitiser

As a response to the rapid increase in the number of coronavirus cases in France, some of the facilities in Manosque (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence) that manufacture beauty and well-being products for the L’OCCITANE en Provence and Melvita brands have been reassigned to the production of verbena- scented hand sanitiser.

The first 10,000 300ml bottles of hand sanitiser are being shipped today. By the end of the week, 50,000 300ml bottles, containing 15,000 litres of disinfectant, will have been manufactured. They will be used by healthcare services, firefighters and hospitals, including AP–HP. The Group plans to scale up production to some 70,000 litres. The L’OCCITANE Group thanks its partners who have helped make hand sanitiser production possible, and in particular Distilleries et Domaines de Provence, which provided 16,000 litres of alcohol.

Reinold Geiger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the L’OCCITANE Group, commented:

‘The L’OCCITANE Group began responding to the COVID-19 epidemic in February by donating moisturising lotion and hand cream to hospital staff in Wuhan and Shanghai. Now that the crisis is battering Europe, we are extending that support to European healthcare workers, whose work and commitment are admirable. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Group’s staff, who are working hard to produce hand sanitiser for them to use while also maintaining our regular operations. Humankind is undergoing a time filled with challenges. By pooling our efforts with a full measure of humility, we can help it to overcome them.’