Summary
- LVMH-owned Loro Piana has been placed under court administration for a year after a worker was beaten at a subcontracted workshop for demanding unpaid wages, revealing severe labor exploitation, including undocumented workers paid €4/hr, forced to endure 90-hour weeks.
- This incident highlights broader issues of worker abuse in the luxury apparel industry, with Loro Piana being one of several brands, including Armani, Dior, and Valentino, recently scrutinized by a Milan court for labor violations despite Europe’s push for ethical production.
As confirmed in multiple reports, LVMH-owned label Loro Piana is the latest European fashion house to be placed under court administration for a year, following the revelation of the brutal beating of a worker who demanded unpaid wages from a subcontracted workshop.
The incident, which happened at a subcontracted jacket workshop Northwest of Milan, led to the arrest of the facility’s Chinese owner and its immediate closure by the Carabinieri police department. According to Business of Fashion, the Carabinieri police found that the facility, which produced Loro Piana cashmere garments, employed 10 Chinese migrant workers, 5 of whom were undocumented.
Forced to work as much as 90 hours a week, all 7 days, the laborers were only paid €4 an hour, and housed in illegal dwellings inside the factory. The Carabinieri police investigated two intermediary companies and three Chinese workshops located in Milan, finding that half of the workers were working without registration.
In an official statement, Loro Piana disclosed that it “acknowledges the notification received from the Court of Milan’s Preventive Measure Section today regarding labor practices by undisclosed and unauthorized subcontractors of one of its suppliers.”
The brand alleges that its supplier did not inform Loro Piana of its subcontractors and their labor violations, and “terminated all relations with the concerned supplier in less than 24 hours,” after being notified on May 20.
“Loro Piana firmly condemns any illegal practices and reaffirms its unwavering commitment to upholding human rights and compliance with all applicable regulations throughout its supply chain,” the statement said.
The latest news comes as part of intensifying efforts to hold luxury brands responsible for labor exploitation, a crime that’s not unique to Loro Piana’s supply chain but symptomatic of a globalized system of worker abuses across the apparel industry.
However, the Italian cashmere purveyor is only one of five luxury labels that have also been placed under recent administration by the same Milan court for labor concerns and violations. Armani, Dior, and Valentino are some of the other notable brands that had their restrictions lifted in the last year, following steps to correct abuses.
Among the most jarring details is often the disparity between how much garment workers make versus the final price tag, which for Loro Piana reaches more $5,000 for a cashmere jacket. According to the court ruling, one intermediary owner stated that she produced approximately 6,000-7,000 jackets per year for Loro Piana at €118 per jacket if the order was for more than 100 items, and €128 if the order was under 100 items.
Though the disparity is not uncommon for a luxury brand, Loro Piana was already under particular scrutiny regarding the treatment of indigenous and immigrant workers. In 2024, it was revealed that an Indigenous Andean village reliant on Loro Piana’s business gets paid roughly $280 for the same amount of Vicuna wool needed for garments priced as much as $9,000 USD.
Bloomberg’s 2024 report spotlighted Vicuna herder Andrea Barrientos in the Andean community of Lucanas, who shared that she and others receive none of the pay disbursed to their community. The woman had never seen a finished Loro Piana garment in her life, despite cultivating the highly sought-after camelid wool for a living.
The most recent scandals reveal that sweatshop-like conditions are not isolated to the Global South and are very much alive in Europe. Though many of these cases involve European fashion conglomerates like LVMH, European governments are on the contrary, are pushing some of the most aggressive efforts to promote ethical production.
In June, France’s Senate voted in favor of an unprecedented bill aimed at regulating fast fashion companies — a major development in efforts to mitigate the ecological impact of overconsumption. However, some critics pointed out that the measures focused on targeting Asian companies like Temu and Shein, while granting less severe regulations to European companies.
Despite luxury brands’ increasingly high margins and prices, many of their most crucial artisans and suppliers continue to be left with little to nothing. Europe’s intensified measures to protect workers from labor abuses and mitigate the environmental impact of the fashion industry are paving the way for a more responsible system rooted in accountability.
While many customers may never see the people who do the grueling work involved in creating luxuries, the influx of recent cases from the world’s most respected purveyors is a sobering reminder of the injustices endured by the people and communities behind the product.
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