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[Prada was among] 13 brands asked to hand over documents about their work practices this week as [Italian] investigators lift the lid on the widespread use of Chinese-run sweatshops in Italy. Workers put in 90-hour weeks for as little as €3.5 an hour to produce some of the world’s top fashion wear.
One investigator said: “We’ve seen squalid dormitories set up in sweatshops so workers are forced to sleep where they work, and safety protection removed from machinery to accelerate work. This means bags and clothes can be turned out for €50 before selling them for up to €1,000.”
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The top cashmere maker Loro Piana was also placed on the list after a Chinese workshop owner near Milan was shut down due to accusations he beat up a worker who asked for unpaid wages.
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While discreetly supplying low-cost fashion to Italy’s big firms, the Chinese-run sweat shop industry in Prato has also attracted the attention of Chinese mafia groups which have muscled into the lucrative business of trucking clothing from the city across Europe.
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In April, Zhang Dayong, an alleged extortionist for a Prato-based mob boss, was shot in Rome in an alleged inter-clan war. Marco Wong, a former city councillor in Prato, said that conditions for workers may slowly improve, although the process would not be driven by prosecutions or corporate codes of conduct.
He said: “What could make the difference is the growing use by Chinese sweatshop owners of Pakistani workers since fewer Chinese are now migrating from China. As opposed to the Chinese, the Pakistanis are protesting about working conditions and holding strikes backed by assertive unions.”
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