Bags ‘made by exploited Chinese labour’
Exploited Chinese workers employed in Italy by an unauthorised subcontractor made handbags and accessories for the Giorgio Armani fashion house in a series of supply chain abuses that the in-house production company failed to properly monitor, Italian police said.
The fashion house denied wrongdoing by GA Operations, which produces apparel, accessories and home decor for the Giorgio Armani Group brands.
“The company has always had control and prevention measures in place to minimise abuses in the supply chain,” Armani said.
Police claimed GA Operations hired a subcontractor, which in turn hired unauthorised Chinese subcontractors that employed workers under the table, some of whom were in Italy illegally.
They allegedly disregarded health and safety regulations as well as rules governing working hours, breaks and days off.
Police said it was part of a system of the illegal intermediation and exploitation of workers most often associated with the agricultural sector.
Four Chinese factory owners face a separate criminal investigation for their role.
GA Operations was not under investigation but had been placed under judicial administration for up to a year as part of a procedure to ensure legal operations, said carabinieri Lieutenant Colonel Loris Baldassarre.
A diagram released by police indicated that the Chinese subcontractor was paid ¤93 (HK$790) for a handbag that the fashion house sold for around ¤1,800. The authorised subcontractor, acting as middleman but without real production capabilities, was paid ¤250 for the same bag, pocketing ¤157 for each bag, police said.
“The system allows for maximising profits [in which] the Chinese factory actually produces the products, lowering labour costs by resorting to off-the-books and illegal workers,” police said.
A video released by carabinieri shows a workshop where leather goods were made, with two beds in an adjacent office. A second-floor dormitory had a set of bunk beds and another bed strewn with clothes and blankets.
Cooking pots were piled in a filthy bathroom alongside a broken sink and a pot with water containing what appears to be eel. A makeshift kitchen included a gas burner next to a wall splattered with food.
The finding was part of a wider investigation into the supply chain in Milan and Bergamo provinces, which placed bag and accessory maker Alviero Martini Spa under judicial administration in January, Baldassarre said.
In the more recent case, police investigated four factories with unhealthy working conditions and safety violations, including illegal dormitories with “sanitary and hygienic conditions below the ethical minimum”.
The factories were ordered to be closed, and the four Chinese owners facing a separate criminal investigation were handed fines and administrative sanctions totalling ¤145,000.
ARGENTINA