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Exploitative workshops come back to haunt top brands
Milan prosecutor Paolo Storari is scraping away the veneer of top-quality craftsmanship touted by the leading luxury brands.© Studio Pachamama

Running Story
Exploitative workshops come back to haunt top brands

Armani, Dior, Valentino, Loro Piana and Tod's are among the luxury companies to have been implicated in a Milanese judicial investigation into workshops in breach of labour law. Led by a prosecutor used to handling mafia cases, the inquiry is undermining the reputation of top brands for impeccable craftsmanship and sending shockwaves through the whole of the "Made in Italy" sector.

Exploitative workshops come back to haunt top brands
Milan prosecutor Paolo Storari is scraping away the veneer of top-quality craftsmanship touted by the leading luxury brands.© Studio Pachamama

Spotlight | LVMH
Italian probe and Anderson's first collection cause supply chain headaches for Dior

The creative stamp of the Northern Irish fashion designer and the Milan public prosecutor's office's investigation into the brand's Italian subcontractors have severely disrupted production at LVMH's flagship house, which has been grappling with a major operational problem for months.

Dior’s complex production and distribution arrangements, as well as issues with its suppliers, are causing it serious headaches.
LogoSubscribers only France Houses 28.04.2026
Dior’s complex production and distribution arrangements, as well as issues with its suppliers, are causing it serious headaches.

Smoking gun
The double life of an Italian luxury manager who also ran an exploitative workshop

An investigation by the Milan public prosecutor has revealed that a former employee of the yachting clothing brand Paul & Shark coordinated the operations of a subcontractor accused of exploiting its workers.

Paolo Storari, Milan’s public prosecutor.
LogoSubscribers only Italy Houses 02.04.2026
Paolo Storari, Milan’s public prosecutor.

Dini family
Lombardy dynasty's luxury hotel investments in Kurdistan backfire

Omnipresent in Milanese politics and business, the Dini family is having to contend with its principal investment, the Paul & Shark yachting clothing brand, being put into administration over its use of exploitative workshops. Meanwhile, its luxury hotel investments in Kurdistan are turning out to be a loss-making venture.

LogoSubscribers only Italy Families 24.03.2026

In Focus
Fashion brands' profits boosted by worker exploitation in Italy

The investigation launched by the Milanese authorities in early 2024 into Italian workshops in breach of labour law has now implicated several leading fashion brands, including Armani, Loro Piana, Dior, Tod's and Valentino. The fact is that these subcontractors charge less, meaning substantial savings on production costs for the luxury sector.

Italian investigators have been going after the exploitative workshops that ensure luxury brands such high profit margins.
LogoSubscribers only Italy Houses 06.11.2025
Italian investigators have been going after the exploitative workshops that ensure luxury brands such high profit margins.

Shockwaves of Italian investigation into illegal workshop practices reach UK shores

In a pre-emptive measure to avoid finding itself implicated like many an Italian luxury company in the ongoing Milanese inquiry, a supplier to the British royal family has been taking a close look at its own supply chain.

LogoSubscribers only United Kingdom Houses 04.11.2025

Spotlight
Italian workshop probe points finger at ex-Jacquemus subcontractor

More and more luxury companies are being caught up in the investigation launched last year by the Milanese authorities into workshops manufacturing luxury items that have failed to meet legal standards. Glitz can reveal that an Armani subcontractor implicated earlier this month also once produced handbags for Jacquemus, though the brand is keen to stress that it stopped working with the manufacturer last year.

One leading luxury company after another is being implicated in the investigation into the dubious practices of certain Milanese workshops.
LogoSubscribers only France, Italy Houses 28.10.2025
One leading luxury company after another is being implicated in the investigation into the dubious practices of certain Milanese workshops.

Abusive Tod's subcontractor also supplied Stéphane Courbit's luxury hotel

The Tod's subcontractors whom Milanese prosecutors accuse of exploiting migrant workers include Italian uniform maker Maurel, which supplies several high-end hotels, including one in the Airelles chain, owned by Stéphane Courbit, as well as the Rome Orient Express, co-owned by LVMH and Accor.

LogoSubscribers only Italy Houses 21.10.2025

LVMH execs pocket CSR bonus despite Dior illegal workshop probe

Around 10% of the variable remuneration of Bernard Arnault and Stéphane Bianchi, the group's deputy CEO, is linked to the group's performance in terms of social responsibility. In 2024, the bonus was not affected by an Italian investigation into the use of illegal labour by Dior subcontractors.

Free access France Houses 10.07.2025

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Milan prosecutor Paolo Storari is scraping away the veneer of top-quality craftsmanship touted by the leading luxury brands.

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Shady workshops

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