The coronavirus is a global pandemic that has altered every single aspect of our lives over the last few months and forced the world to shift in a way that we’ve never experienced before. There hasn’t been a single industry that’s been left unaffected by COVID-19 and the global lockdowns of cities that came with it. The world came to a sudden halt as stores closed their doors to customers, forcing some of the busiest shopping streets in the world into an eerie silence and restaurant kitchens ceased to serve food.

Across the world, governments cried out, urging people to support key workers that kept hospitals and essential services running and here in the UK, people took to their doorsteps on a Thursday night to show their love and appreciation for the NHS.

Designer brand Ralph Lauren showed their support for the coronavirus effort in the way they know best; through clothes. Back in May, Ralph Lauren launched a Polo shirt design competition where fans and artists were asked to submit design concepts with the winning entry being chosen for use on the classic polo shirt. The winning entry was a design by Illinois–based Michelle Smith depicting an illustration of her son Micah, wearing a mask with the word ‘hope’ in the background; something that we all had to hold onto during the gloomiest of COVID days.

The design competition, ‘Polo Project: Design for Good’ was launched to engage with the brand’s community in a positive way when stores were shut and encourage creativity, all whilst raising money to support the coronavirus effort.

2500 copies of the shirt were produced with 100% of the purchase price going to the COVID-19 Solidarity response for WHO.

We love this initiative by Ralph Lauren, so we’ve picked out a few of our favourite pieces for you to shop.