sustainability / Worker's Rights

This year offered up a jarring reality check for players seeking to improve the industry’s environmental and social impact, with brands deprioritising sustainability efforts even as the risks of inaction have become more apparent.

BoF senior correspondent Sheena Butler-Young and chief sustainability correspondent Sarah Kent unpack a scandal that has linked brands like Armani and Dior to Italian sweatshops.

An Italian probe linking luxury labels including Dior and Armani to labour exploitation — with the supply chains of up to a dozen more brands under the microscope — has exposed a seedy practice deeply embedded in the luxury system, creating an unpredictable PR crisis at a precarious time for the sector, a BoF investigation has found.

The Prefecture of Milan is aiming to beef up the fashion sector’s monitoring systems after an investigation by Milanese prosecutors found labour exploitation in the supply chains of luxury brands including Armani and Dior. The scheme currently in draft would be voluntary and limited to the Lombardy region.

The Model Alliance delivered hundreds of letters from models and allies to New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s office Tuesday morning, calling on her to sign the act which passed in the state’s Senate and Assembly in July.

The company said both cases had been “resolved swiftly,” with remediation steps including ending underage employees’ contracts, arranging medical checkups, and facilitating repatriation to parents or guardians as necessary.

For a decade, Fashion Revolution has pressured brands to improve protections for garment workers. Its latest campaign is focused on reducing the industry’s use of fossil fuels.

The troubled sportswear giant is under pressure to address alleged failings in its approach to responsible sourcing as it struggles to execute on a turnaround plan amid an Olympics marketing push.