Craftsmen in white coats greeted guests at the Tod’s fashion show in Milan on Friday. They manufactured the leather and handcrafted ‘Made in Italy’ items for which the company and the country are known.
But despite this display of craftsmanship, little was said about the industry’s forgotten workers at Milan Fashion Week. Prosecutors had discovered that they worked under exploitative conditions as subcontractors for many Italian luxury brands, including Tod’s.
Given the glamorous catwalks, the celebrities and the abundance of fine clothing, the likelihood of anyone paying attention to the latest investigation into labor rights violations seemed slim.
After the show, Tod’s founder and chairman Diego Della Valle told AFP that the company’s decision to highlight its artisan heritage was in no way related to the recent investigation.
“No controversy – I think we will do good together with the courts and the business associations. I think we are on the right track,” said Della Valle.
On Tuesday, Tod’s presented a list of measures to strengthen its supply chain to a Milan court. This includes creating a platform to better track supplier activities and enhanced audits.
“I think that through such collaboration everyone will be involved in a solution,” he said, adding that Italian laws need to be revised “to protect people and artisans.”
‘Product first’
Many international guests on the show had not heard of the allegations of exploitation of migrant workers. These were raised last year against more than a dozen of the luxury industry’s biggest names, including Gucci, Loro Piana, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana and Ferragamo.
The allegations include round-the-clock working hours, below-average pay, breaches of safety measures and makeshift sleeping quarters in small workshops.
When asked if this matters to luxury shoppers, Nordstrom vice president and fashion director Rickie De Sole suggested the answer could be yes or no.
“I think the integrity of ‘Made in Italy’ is incredibly important. And I think that at the end of the day, for customers, the product comes first, right?” she told AFP.
Influential fashion critic and journalist Suzy Menkes sat in the front row. She noted that she hasn’t followed the cases in Italy, but said “people are interested when certain things come to light.”
“But I don’t think it’s any different than groceries and various other things. You hope that the bigger the company, the more seriously they take it.”
26-year-old Hong Kong content creator Stephanie Hui was dressed head to toe in Tod’s. She said people had become “jaded” to stories of exploitative working conditions in the fashion industry. Consumers felt powerless to change anything.
“It takes a lot of people coming together to really make a change. It’s not really in our hands, but I think if consumers spend less, that will be kind of a wake-up call for brands,” she said.
‘Want to be seen’
Fashion industry insiders say that the larger the company, the more complicated it is to control each link in the supply chain.
Stefano Aimone, chief executive officer (CEO) and creative director of Agnona, said in an interview with AFP that it depends on the size of the company.
“When you’re smaller, you have more control and can really know and check all your employees and consultants by name. When you’re dealing with 400, it’s just numbers and it’s unthinkable to control everything,” he said.
“Something will still slip through, because even if you have contracts with this or that subcontractor, you don’t know what they will do in turn,” said Aimone.
When asked if fashion shoppers were paying attention, Aimone said that despite some headlines, it remains a ‘B2B’ (business-to-business) issue.
“The end customers don’t know.”
And even if supply chains were better known, customers might not care, said Iuliana Stetco, a 21-year-old fashion marketing student in Milan.
“They want to be seen. They want to be seen with a certain brand, a certain label, and so it’s not that important to them.”(AFP)
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