Home > World > World

Valentino unit put under court administration in Italy over labor exploitation

Published: 15 May. 2025, 20:17

Models present creations by designer Alessandro Michele as part of his Spring/Summer 2025 Women's ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Valentino during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France, Sept. 29, 2024. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

An Italian court on Thursday placed under judicial administration a company owned by fashion group Valentino for subcontracting its production to Chinese-owned firms that exploited workers.

The court in Milan, Italy, ordered a one-year administration for Valentino Bags Lab Srl, which makes Valentino-branded handbags and travel articles, according to the 30-page ruling seen by Reuters.

The administration will be lifted earlier if the company brings its practices into line with legal requirements.

The court said Valentino Bags Lab “culpably failed” to adequately oversee its suppliers in order to pursue higher profits.

Valentino could not immediately be reached for comment.

French fashion group Kering bought a 30 percent stake of the Italian brand in 2023 from Qatari investment fund Mayhoola with an option to purchase the whole of its share capital by 2028.

Valentino Bags Lab is the fourth fashion company to be targeted by the same Milan court over similar labor issues since December 2023, following an Italian unit of French luxury giant LVMH's Dior, Italy's Armani, and Alviero Martini, an Italian handbag company.

The Milan court lifted the judicial administration it placed on these three companies before the end of the one-year deadline imposed on them.

Reuters