An Italian court has placed fashion brand Valentino unit Valentino Bags Lab Srl under judicial administration for a year after uncovering worker abuse inside its supply chain.
Valentino Bags Lab, which makes Valentino-branded handbags and travel articles, subcontracted production to Chinese-owned firms in Italy that exploited workers. The Milan court found it “culpably failed” to adequately oversee its suppliers in order to pursue higher profits.
Carabinieri police from the Milan labor protection unit inspected 7 Chinese-owned workshops around the financial capital from Mar to Dec 2024. They identified 67 workers, 9 of whom had no employment contract. Three were irregular immigrants.
Workers were made to sleep in the workplace in order to have manpower available 24 hours a day. Electricity consumption showed seamless day-night production cycles, including during the holidays. In addition, safety devices had been removed from the machinery to allow them to operate faster.
One of the Chinese-owned contractors, Bags Milano Srl, had been working exclusively for Valentino Bags Lab since 2018, producing around 4,000 bags per month for between €35 and €75 ($39-$84) each. These same bags retail for between €1,900 and €2,200.
The owner of Bags Milano subcontracted the production of some of the Valentino bags to other Chinese-owned workshops. According to this owner, Valentino Bags Lab did not formally authorize this but was aware of it and “turned a blind eye” given how much work there was.
The owners of the contracting and subcontracting companies are under investigation by Milan prosecutors for exploiting workers and employing people off the books. Valentino Bags Lab itself faces no criminal probe.
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