19.12.2024

The Dark Side Of Luxury Handbag

Luxury goods makers behind iconic brands including Dior and Armani hired contractors that pay workers as little as $2 an hour to make handbags that they then sell for thousands of dollars apiece, according to European law enforcement officials. Dior, the French multinational luxury fashion house chaired by mogul Bernard Arnault and his family, charges a supplier around $57 to manufacture a handbag that it sells in stores for around $2,780, according to The Wall Street Journal. Italian authorities obtained the figures after police conducted a series of raids on workshops and makeshift factories that employed illegal immigrants and others “off the book,” the Journal reported. Prosecutors in Milan accused the companies of hiring subcontractors that employ Chinese migrants and other foreign workers who are paid as little as between $2 and $3 an hour. The workers often sleep in the workshops and are made to work from dusk until dawn, including on holidays and weekends, it was alleged. A diagram released by police indicated that the Chinese subcontractor was paid 93 euros ($100) for a handbag that the fashion house sold for around 1,800 euros (around $1950). The authorized subcontractor, acting as the middleman but without real production capabilities, was paid 250 euros for the same bag, pocketing 157 euros for each bag, police said. “The system allows for maximizing profits (in which) the Chinese factory actually produces the products, lowering labor costs by resorting to off-the-books and illegal workers,” police said in a statement.
​Credit: ALJAZEERA