sustainability / Worker's Rights

An Italian union is seeking to hold Richemont legally accountable for alleged workers’ rights violations at a Montblanc supplier, as scandals linking brands like Dior, Armani, Valentino and Loro Piana to sweatshops draw more scrutiny to the sector’s sourcing practices.

The LVMH-owned cashmere brand is the fifth luxury label to be caught in an Italian scandal that has raised questions about the integrity of the sector’s vaunted supply chains. Sarah Kent joins The Debrief to unpack.

This week, court documents linking the top-end brand to Chinese sweatshops outside Milan called the entire luxury sector’s credibility into question.

This week, Italy’s Competition Authority closed a probe into whether Dior misled consumers about working conditions at its suppliers without finding any wrongdoing. But a new case linking Valentino to poor labour practices suggests this is a problem that won’t go away easily.

A Milan court found that Valentino Bags Lab subcontracted production to Chinese-owned firms in Italy that exploited workers.

American retailers are ramping up inquiries to manufacture in India in response to Trump's trade war, but a labour shortage and high costs in key textile producing regions are hampering suppliers' ability to capitalise on the opportunity.

Dramatic cuts to US foreign development spending are kneecapping the fragile network of civil society organisations and nonprofits that defend workers in the industry’s global supply chains.

It’s been almost a year since Italian prosecutors linked Armani and then Dior to sweatshops on the outskirts of Milan in an investigation expected to bring up to a dozen more brands under the microscope. In response, officials and industry leaders have rushed to tighten controls over the luxury supply chain.