A court in Milan has placed the production units of two luxury brands under administration for a year after an investigation exposed rampant labour law violations and the inhumane treatment of Chinese nationals working in “sweat shops” linked to Armani and Dior.
According to a report out of India, the investigation uncovered shocking working conditions where workers slept in sleeping bags and laboured without any breaks.
A Reuters report revealed the meticulous tracking of electricity consumption data to ensure the workers were manufacturing bags like machines, day and night.
Most of the workers were Chinese illegal immigrants, living in the country without proper documentation, the Hindustan Times reports.
To speed up the production process, safety devices on gluing and brushing machines were eliminated.
This severe cost-cutting in production allowed Dior – owned by the French LVMH Group, also popular for its Louis Vuitton brand – to sell items for well over a $1 000 per unit while spending less than $100 on each bag’s production.
The investigation used by the judiciary in Milan found that Dior made bags for as little as $57, and retailing items for up to $2 780.
Armani was also red-flagged for exploiting illegal immigrants.
Third-party suppliers to the brand paid manufacturing line workers about $99 to make bags retailing for $1 900.
The prosecution stated that the violations of labour standards were not isolated incidents but rather the brands’ usual manufacturing method to maximise profits, according to the Hindustan Times.
“Workers were toiling day and night, exploited, dismissing their health and safety standards.”
The investigation found that the labourers worked excessive hours, and were forced to sleep at factories under poor hygiene and health conditions to save on expenses.
Because most of the immigrants are undocumented and illegally resident in Italy, they found themselves trapped in an exploitative system.
Further investigation revealed that sweatshops linked to luxury fashion brands like Armani and Dior are primarily located in two areas of Italy: Prato and Naples.
Up to two-thirds of the Chinese population in Prato are illegal immigrants working in these factories, Reuters has reported.
Police raids have uncovered squalid living conditions, with workers sleeping at the factories being paid as little as €1 per hour.
Italian police also uncovered a sweatshop linked to luxury groups in Melito, a suburb north of Naples in the Campania region.
