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Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.

Inside Luxury’s Italian Sweatshops Problem

An Italian probe linking luxury labels including Dior and Armani to labour exploitation — with the supply chains of up to a dozen more brands under the microscope — has exposed a seedy practice deeply embedded in the luxury system, creating an unpredictable PR crisis at a precarious time for the sector, a BoF investigation has found.
Police images of a factory raided in the course of an Italian investigation into labour exploitation in luxury supply chains.
Police images of a factory raided in the course of an Italian investigation into labour exploitation in luxury supply chains. (Alamy)

MILAN, Italy —

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Further Reading

Is Luxury Finally Set for a Sustainability Reckoning?

Amid growing disillusionment with luxury brands, a series of Italian investigations linking major players like Dior and Armani to sweatshop labour is putting new pressure on the sector's most powerful asset: brand image.

Are Luxury Brands Still Worth It?

Luxury’s results ‘superweek’ underscored just how far consumer demand has fallen. Macroeconomic gloom is part of the problem, but there may be deeper issues with big luxury’s value proposition.

About the author
Sarah Kent
Sarah Kent

Sarah Kent is Chief Sustainability Correspondent at The Business of Fashion. She is based in London and drives BoF's coverage of critical environmental and labour issues.

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