Analysis
The right is working to shield fashion brands from labor exploitation
The campaign launched a petition on Monday together with trade unions and NGOs calling for the article to be withdrawn and for a reform of the fashion industry based on supply chain responsibility.
It would amount to wiping the slate clean for the Italian fashion industry, or in any case rendering ineffective the investigations by the Milan judiciary into their supply chain – investigations that in recent weeks have involved Tod’s, Loro Piana, Armani and Valentino, to name a few. At the center of the controversy is Article 30 of the bill on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), approved by the Senate and now under discussion in the Chamber of Deputies. The clause excludes major brands from “administrative liability” in cases of illicit acts committed along the production chain, such as undeclared work, exploitation and failure to comply with safety regulations.
The measure was inserted during the floor debate in the Senate via an amendment presented by Fratelli d’Italia senators Bartolomeo Amidei and Renato Ancorotti, which became an article of the bill now before the lower house. It is currently being prepared for discussion in committee, entrusted to Forza Italia deputy Fabio Pietrella as rapporteur, who is formerly the president of the Confartigianato Moda fashion industry association and an entrepreneur in the sector himself. The amendment introduces a single “Certified Fashion Supply Chain” certification, obtained on a voluntary basis, which would enable the major brands not only to benefit from the label for promotional and marketing purposes, but also consider themselves exempt from organizational and managerial liability.
The trade unions, opposition parties and NGOs working in the industry have called this a “shield” against potential legal action, such as the probes conducted by Milan prosecutor Paolo Storari, who has investigated not only contractors and subcontractors but also the big brands who hired them. The Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, greeted the new package of measures with enthusiasm: “We are bringing concrete measures to firmly defend Italian fashion, to protect its reputation and the values that have made it synonymous with beauty, quality and authenticity: the Made in Italy that the world admires and that we have a duty to protect and make even stronger, including on the juridical level,” he wrote at the time of the amendment’s approval in the Senate. The timing was significant: it was inserted in mid-October, shortly after the latest request for judicial administration for the luxury brand Tod’s.
“The idea of solving labor exploitation through certifications is completely bankrupt,” says Francesca Ciuffi of the Sudd Cobas union. “Over the years we have found more than one case of exploitation at certified companies. It happened at Z Production, a first-tier supplier of Montblanc in Campi Bisenzio, Tuscany, where workers reported twelve-hour shifts, six days a week, paid three euros an hour. But it also happened at Alba in Montemurlo, where the owner assaulted a worker: that was also a certified company.”
Among the doubts raised is how reliable the certifying bodies would be in terms of competence and impartiality. “First of all, it is a purely paper-based certification, documentation certifying compliance with social security, tax and labor laws, which companies must already submit during the onboarding phase – that is, when the contract is signed. It is a certification that attests the obvious, and actually weakens existing law,” explains Deborah Lucchetti, coordinator of the Abiti Puliti (“Clean Clothes”) campaign. “This certification will make investigations even more difficult and guarantee impunity for the most powerful players: the brands placing the orders.”
Lucchetti continues: “Labor exploitation is a structural phenomenon that arises from unfair commercial practices, starting with contract prices that are so low they force suppliers to organize their work in such a way that they remain competitive. This is what is known as ‘organizational decoupling’: on paper, everything is fine, but I pay you so little knowing full well that this cost will not allow you to comply with the regulations and the contracts. It is an implicit authorization to operate in illegality.”
The campaign launched a petition on Monday together with trade unions and NGOs calling for the article to be withdrawn and for a reform of the fashion industry based on supply chain responsibility, a just transition for workers and environmental protection. “There are only two possibilities: either the brand knows what is happening, and is therefore jointly responsible, or it doesn’t know because it doesn’t check, and is therefore negligent,” Lucchetti concludes.
The text of the appeal is available on the website www.abitipuliti.org.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/la-destra-lavora-allo-scudo-penale-per-i-grandi-marchi-della-moda on 2025-11-25