In Italy, a new protocol is introduced to combat exploitation in fashion production

On May 26, Luca Sburlati, the president of the Italian textile association Confindustria Moda, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at tackling illegality and exploitation in the local fashion production chain. With this, the Confindurstria Moda thus confirms its full willingness to collaborate with public institutions and other representative associations in the sector, according to a press release.

The protocol was initially proposed in June 2024, after a number of brands, namely Dior and Armani, faced allegations of operating workshops where underpaid workers were producing leather bags. More recently, a unit of Valentino had also been placed under judicial administration after an investigation uncovered abuse of supply chain workers.

The MoU therefore intends to ensure more transparency through the creation of a database of supply chain firms, which can enter their own information, covering tax and labour law compliance, among other aspects. This will then be updated every six months, according to Reuters, which reviewed the documents. Brands must commit to raising awareness of the new platform through their suppliers. Those that sign up to the scheme will be issued with a six-month renewable certificate of transparency.

New database aims to ensure transparency

While defining the text of the protocol, following a first draft issued in June 2024, “Confindustria Moda chose to take on a constructive role to develop a shared system for transparency and control of the supply chain. The objective is to safeguard, with balance, all the interests at stake, from the promotion of full legality, to fair competition between national companies and between these and foreign competitors, to full respect for workers' rights (salaries, rights, health and safety, welfare)”, read the press release from Confindustria Moda.

In detail, Confindustria Moda has placed the following indispensable aspects at the centre of its action: the centrality of the application of the National Collective Labour Agreement along the entire supply chain, signed by the employers' and trade union parties that are most representative at national level; the need for every system of transparency and control of the supply chain to fully guarantee the safeguarding of intellectual property and privacy on data, on the organisation and on the business of the companies involved, both large and for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); and, finally, the importance of the simplicity of application of the procedures, to avoid further complexities and duplications of fulfilments that are not necessary for the achievement of the substantial objectives, but risk aggravating bureaucracy in an unsustainable way.

After yesterday's signing and the formalisation of the overall intervention framework, Confindustria Moda “is ready to collaborate technically, for the operational implementation of the contents of the protocol, starting with the definition of production standards, which will allow verification of the appropriateness of the contracts and price targets associated with the organisation of production”.

“Although this is an agreement defined on a territorial basis, the national scope of this experiment is evident: both due to the national representativeness of many of the signatories, and due to the specific characteristics of the fashion production chains, which know no territorial, local, regional and very often not even national borders,” said Sburlati.

CNMI expresses reservations

While the agreement is seemingly a step in the right direction, Milan Fashion Week organiser Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (CNMI) has expressed some reservations about the protocol. According to the organisation, “some essential points remain open in the protocol that need to be implemented operationally in a different way to avoid producing negative effects on companies and on the supply chain”. The points on which the CNMI maintains concern are those relating to the necessary protection of confidentiality, brand and customer know-how, as well as the disclosure of information and data relating to them.

As anticipated, however, the CNMI has accepted the proposal of the Prefecture of Milan to arrive at a set of common and shared rules to ensure transparency in the fashion production chains. “Recalling that the very high quality of Italian products is guaranteed by a perfect and transparent balance between large companies (brands) and small businesses that together give life to a value chain that is the basis of one of the largest industries in the country,” specified the CNMI.

The discussion that has taken place in these months of work under the coordination of the Prefecture, “has made it possible to reach a synthesis in the current version of the memorandum of understanding which is largely shareable and represents an important system result”, explained the CNMI.

“CNMI will continue to work tirelessly to improve the activities envisaged by the protocol and at the same time to represent on all discussion tables with institutions and associations in the sector the importance of being able to count on a law that determines a clear, orderly, specific and easily applicable regulatory framework,” the association concluded.

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