Rome - The Italian Competition Authority on Wednesday ordered luxury brand Dior to pay two million euros in aid to “victims of exploitation” as part of an investigation into the working conditions of its subcontractors, but ruled out any “infraction”.
An investigation had been opened in July 2024 by the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) “because of the dissemination of statements (...) potentially misleading, in particular with regard to working conditions and compliance with the law at certain leather goods suppliers.”
Dior was accused of “using workshops and factories employing workers paid an inadequate wage,” the AGCM said at the time.
The latter announced on Wednesday that it had not found “any infringement”, but at the same time “accepted and made binding the commitments proposed” by Dior on the subject, in particular “financial support of two million euros over 5 years (...) to identify victims of labour exploitation and support them in dedicated courses.” The luxury fashion house has also pledged to renew its “procedures” for “selecting and monitoring suppliers”.
Dior, which belongs to the world's number one luxury group, the French group LVMH, said on Wednesday it was “pleased” with the “positive conclusion of the investigation” by the AGCM, which “underlines once again that the fashion house ensures, relentlessly and always, that its products are manufactured with the greatest rigour in Italy,” it wrote in a statement.
The Italian luxury group Giorgio Armani is also the subject of an investigation opened by the AGCM in the summer of 2024. The investigation is still “ongoing”, the AGCM told AFP on Wednesday.
One of Armani's subsidiaries had used a supplier, Manifatture Lombarde srl, which in turn allegedly used subcontractors placing orders with Chinese workshops employing undocumented workers in the Milan area for the production of bags, leather goods and Armani accessories.
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