Bloomberg has a fascinating story about the people who actually do the work in Italy's tanneries and leather goods factories. While the goods may be "Made in Italy", they are not "Made by Italians." The jobs can pay as little as 400 Euros each month (about $520 US), and migrant labor is preferred because it is much cheaper than what native italians could command.
We learn about Sief Jamel, who paid smugglers $3,200 for passage from Addis Ababa, through the Sahara, through Libya, on to Italy -- a trek that took almost two years. Jamel said, "I hoped I might find work in fashion." Of the people who journeyed with him, two wound up abandoned in the Sahara and two were thrown overboard, into the Mediterranean.
Although the Italians claim that there is a severe labor shortage -- after all, Italy has the lowest birthrate in Europe -- Jamel and other migrants have difficulty finding full time work. Instead, the tanneries and leather goods companies complain that the migrants have poor language skills and are untrained. As a result, the migrants are shunted into low paying training programs, earning only 400 or 500 Euros a month. If the migrants are successful, then they get the opportunity to serve as cheap. full time labor.
Orlando Elio, who runs a factory in Vinci, says he needs to hire immigrants who take lower pay than Italians and do tedious work embroidering fabric for Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi, Versace and others.
Certainly, being exploited by the Italian fashion industry is preferable to starvation or the misery of war. Nonetheless, it is ironic that luxury products should be made under such poor conditions. Jamel had the following experience at a factory where Bulgari, Gucci and Tod's goods are made:
He learned how to color, cut and sew together leather bags, working alongside about 40 Albanians, Moroccans and Somalis who, like him, were brought in during a one-time production crunch. Jamel took home 500 euros a month for laboring eight hours a day, six days a week.
Once the training period was over, Jamel found himself unemployed and homeless, which is something to consider the next time we carry a bag featuring a "Made in Italy" tag.
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