Italian luxury brand Loro Piana linked to exploitation of workers

So last week’s news that Loro Piana has been using subcontracted, underpaid and possibly forced Chinese workers represents a moment of great risk for the brand, which turned 100 last year. The tactile pleasures of fine wool may not generate the same feelings of wealthy self-satisfaction if the wearer suspects they are the result of modern slavery.

Loro Piana, which faces Italian court oversight of its operations, insists it didn’t know what its subcontractors (or, more likely, the subcontractors of its subcontractors) were up to. Yet last year’s accusations that it exploited Indigenous workers in Latin America should have been a wake-up call. (Indigenous leaders ultimately gave it a pass.)

The presence of cheap Chinese workers in Italy’s luxury supply chain has been an open secret for at least a decade, says ethical production evangelist Dan Viederman, adding that the limited use by many Italian luxury firms of systems that can detect exploited and forced labour suggests many have chosen to turn a blind eye.

LVMH, Loro Piana’s parent firm, scored poorly on the KnowTheChain benchmark of the use of due diligence practices designed to stop human rights abuses, with six points out of 100 – well below the average for the 65 firms surveyed.

LVMH’s share price fell on news of the court action against Loro Piana. Perhaps some financial pain will get it to do more to eliminate modern slavery from its supply chains.

Photograph by HBO