Tod’s Wins a Reprieve: Italian Judge Postpones Ruling on Advertising Ban Case

Italian justice gives Tod’s time. The luxury group has obtained a postponement in the holding of the hearing that must decide whether to ban its advertising for six months for alleged labor abuses committed by some of its subcontractors.

The postponement was granted after Tod’s pledged to tighten controls in its supply chain, Reuters news agency has learned. Thus, the hearing that was to be held this week will take place on February 26th next year.

Both the company and three of its executives are under investigation on suspicion of labor exploitation. As a result, prosecutors in Milan requested on November 20th that the advertising of luxury products manufactured in the workshops under investigation be suspended for six months. It is not known what percentage of the company’s references come from these production areas.

Tod’s assures that it has broken off relations with subcontractors accused of exploitation of labor

At this point, prior to the hearing, Tod’s filed a brief requesting the postponement in order to have more time to implement measures to prevent a recurrence of the alleged cases of exploitation in its subcontracting network.

In the letter, Tod’s explains that it has already terminated all contracts with the four subcontractors under investigation for labor exploitation. In addition, it states that it will hire new management, update its procedures with workshops and subcontractors, and offer mandatory training for all staff starting in January.

However, the prosecutors maintain that the company was complicit in the sweatshop situations in the subcontracted workshops, being “fully aware” of them. They claim that, for years, Tod’s ignored the irregularities pointed out by external audits.

According to the latest published figures, Tod’s Group closed the first quarter of last year with a 6.7% drop in sales, to €252.3 million.

Italian luxury: under investigation

Tod’s seems to have opened the floodgates. This is the first time that an Italian fashion house and members of its top management have been directly investigated for alleged labor exploitation. Until now, the prosecutors’ investigations had focused on workshops owned by Chinese businessmen working for high-end brands, and five companies had been prosecuted, but no criminal proceedings had been brought against them.

In this regard, just this Wednesday the Italian police visited the headquarters of thirteen high-end fashion companies in the country to demand documents on management and supply chain controls. The visits took place specifically at the headquarters of Dolce&Gabbana, Versace, Prada, Adidas Italia, Off-White, Missoni, Ferragamo, Givenchy Italia, Alexander McQueen Italia, Kering, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Cris Conf (Pinko) and Coccinelle.

In recent years, investigations in Italy into alleged labor abuses in Chinese workshops have multiplied. In fact, the police visits are in response to the latest investigations they have carried out in this type of workshop, where they also found garments and subcontracting documents related to these thirteen brands.

From the moment the Tod’s scandal came to light, the company’s founder, Diego Della Valle, has defended the group’s performance and warned that the wave of fraudsters’ complaints could be a threat to the company’s reputation.s, that the wave of investigations into Italian luxury groups in recent times could “erode the reputation of made in Italy”.

The Italian government has already presented a bill to create a legal certification of fashion companies, which would guarantee the legal compliance of all the links in their supply chains.