YNAP extends Volunteered Vehicles initiative to Italy and Hong Kong

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Apr 9, 2020

Yoox Net-A-Porter is offering its Premier Delivery Service fleet to support the work of local charities in Italy and Hong Kong, after launching the initiative in London last week.

The luxury retail group said Mr Porter’s fleet of zero-emission electric vans, which were due to become operational for same-day deliveries in Milan later this year, has been donated to the Italian Red Cross. 

The vehicles will be used by the Red Cross committee of Sesto San Giovanni to deliver food and essential supplies to the elderly and other socially isolated local communities during the Covid-19 crisis. 

In Hong Kong, the group is working with ImpactHK, to facilitate the delivery of food packages and essential supplies to the homeless. The care packages will be delivered across various drop-off points in Wan Chai and throughout impoverished areas of Hong Kong island.

In the UK, the delivery fleet has been made available to seven Age UK charities in London. Announced last week, the donation allows these charities to deliver essential supplies to the elderly across Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, East London, Enfield, Camden, West London and Lambeth.

On top of that, the fleet will support a second initiative in London, the Emergency Designer Network (EDN). Set up by fashion designers Holly Fulton, Phoebe English and Bethany Williams alongside Cozette McCreery, the network aims to bring together UK manufacturers and designers to produce key PPE garments such as robes, scrubs and masks. YNAP’s delivery vans will help transport raw materials and finished products to hospitals for use by frontline doctors and nurses.

Yoox Net-A-Porter said a further initiative will be rolled out in the New York area over the coming weeks.

The group is still led by Yoox founder Federico Marchetti, although he is planning to step down as CEO and remain as chairman next year. According to media reports, the company has temporarily halted the search for a new CEO in the face of the health crisis.

In addition to donating its Premier Delivery service vans, YNAP has donated 100 laptops to Italian school children in response to the Italian Ministry of Education’s call for hardware.