All Hands On Deck: Businesses change models to deal with COVID-19 and help out community

With the recent economic decline and stay-at-home order, many businesses have been forced to shut down. However, some local and national businesses have changed their business model to help with the virus and stay afloat. Here’s how three businesses have adjusted:

Kylie Cosmetics

Kylie Cosmetics, one of the world’s leading makeup suppliers, has decided to redirect some of their makeup factories to make hand sanitizer for people on the front lines. Teaming up with Cody, one of the major stakeholder companies in Kylie Cosmetics, founder Kylie Jenner has been able to donate hand sanitizer to medics in Southern California — each labeled with the message “Dedicated to the first responders working to support our communities.”

“I definitely think it’s a good idea as long as it’s a safe product and will benefit people,” sophomore and Kylie Jenner fan Sadie McDonald said. “It’s cool that she’s giving it to hospitals because that’s what we need at a time like this.”

As the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, Jenner also pledged $1 million dollars to buy protective gear from COVID-19 for medical professionals and donated protective equipment to the Los Angeles County Medical Center. On March 19, Jenner urged her 170 million followers to stay home and self-quarantine on her Instagram story. 

The custom hand sanitizer has already been delivered to medics, and Kylie Cosmetics is currently making more with hopes to create a mass hand sanitizer donation to hospitals in California. 

New Balance

New Balance, a popular footwear and clothing brand has shifted their focus from producing athletic wear and shoes to producing face masks — with the slogan “Made shoes yesterday. Making masks today.” 

New Balance joined other companies such as Nike and Gap in creating protective equipment for healthcare workers, with a goal of creating 100,000 masks every week in their factories located in Lawrence, Mass and Norridgewock, Maine. 

Similar to Jenner, New Balance additionally pledged 2 million dollars to help the COVID-19 crisis. 

“We have really deep knowledge on that manufacturing process including materials and design [and] development,” Executive Vice President of Operations Dave Wheeler said in an interview with Business Insider. 

Blade and Timber

All locations of Blade and Timber, a local ax throwing company, have been shut down because people can no longer interact with each other. 

To make up for the shut down, they have partnered with J. Reiger and Co., a Kansas City Distillery, to start producing their own hand sanitizer brand called Reiger’s Remedy Hand Sanitizer. Orders for the hand sanitizer can be placed online, with a set pick-up time. Each day has a different pick up location, such as Blade and Timber or ROKC Climbing Gym. 

All hand sanitizer is currently sold out, but they are working to produce more.