Managers Under Investigation: Low Wages and Labor Concerns

Chinese workers bent over sewing uppers, working every day, especially at night, and paid 2.75 euros per hour. Christmas included. The new inquiry by the Milan prosecutor’s office regarding the hypothesized exploitation of labor – as has occured with other fashion brands and logistics or security companies – doesn’t alter the scenario that has emerged and been hypothesized in other investigations. Though, for the first time, there’s a direct clash between investigators and the company under investigation, which speaks of “worrying timing.” Three managers of Tod’s spa are under investigation for gangmastering, and the company itself has been registered in the register of suspects pursuant too the law on administrative responsibility of entities. The investigation by prosecutor Paolo Storari, which in recent months already led to a request for judicial administration for the group, concerns alleged omissions of controls in the production subcontracting chain, particularly in the Chinese factories used to create components and garments for the brand. During the investigations,working conditions emerged which the prosecutor labeled as “akin to slavery.”

Now the public prosecutor,as revealed in a request for interdiction presented to the judge for preliminary investigations Domenico Santoro and anticipated by Corriere della Sera,accuses the company not only of omissions but also of malicious conduct. The request, which seeks to prevent Tod’s from advertising its products for six months, indicates that the managers did not take “minimum account of the results” of inspections carried out in six factories located in the provinces of Milan, pavia, Macerata, and Fermo, nor of the numerous audits that reported “indications of exploitation” of workers: excessive shifts, irregular wages, poor safety, and degrading housing conditions.

Before Tod’s, Giorgio Armani Operation spa (for which the provision was revoked after a “virtuous path,” ed).In May, however, Valentino Bags Lab, a bag and accessories production company, ended up under judicial administration. In 2024, Storari also requested and obtained the commissionerships of Alviero Martini, Armani operations, and Manufactures Dior, then revoked after the companies adopted countermeasures. The involvement of Tod’s,whose board includes figures such as luca Cordero di Montezemolo and Luigi Abete,in investigations into Chinese gangmastering and factories used in Italian high fashion,had already emerged in July 2025 in the investigation that led to the judicial administration of the Loro Piana brand controlled by one of the 10 richest families in the world (the Arnaults). However, the company is now formally under investigation and responds harshly to the prosecutor’s office, as Diego Della Valle had already done in his time.

The question of territorial jurisdiction and the judicial battle

In the past, investigations and measures had led companies and businesses to rectify wrongdoings, and in some cases, the investigations led to the hiring of thousands of workers. This case of Tod’s appears different.Investigators had requested the preventive measure of judicial administration for Tod’s spa for a “facilitative conduct” for not having controlled phenomena of “exploitation of work” in the production chain, through factories managed by Chinese, of divided intended for store clerks. With the emergence of the investigations, a legal issue also arose: a question of territorial jurisdiction. The Court of Cassation established that territorial jurisdiction should pass to Ancona.

In the meantime, the prosecutor has filed a 144-page document, requesting a ban on advertising.The request reveals that the company and three managers – Simone Bernardini, Mirko Bartoloni, and Vittorio Mascioni – are under investigation for allegedly employing “labor in exploitative conditions and taking advantage of the state of need of Chinese citizens. The workers were employed in the production,among other things,of uniforms for…