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Heritage Meets High Tech

! In the Works ! The New Artisans ! By the Numbers

Italian manufacturing is all about mixing sophisticated methods and technology with centuries-old traditions of

hand-craftsmanship and technique.

A craftsman at Brioni.

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In the Works

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Fendi’s Astuccio fur using the “let-out technique.”

Valentino’s intricate embroidery.

Gucci’s bamboo handles are

a house signature.

Ferragamo makes just 10 pairs of Special Edition shoes a day.

Setting the gems at Bulgari.

A raschel loom at Missoni.

LOOMING LARGEWhile lightening-fast electric looms now produce much of Missoni’s fabrics, the fashion firm’s knitwear DNA is inextricably meshed with 17 mechanical raschel looms, the first of which were acquired by Ottavio Missoni in 1969.

Traditionally used to create lace fabrics, Missoni knitwear techni-cians tweaked the raschel looms, adding extra warp yarns and sta-bilizing loom beams to achieve the iconic zigzag pattern — which re-quires as many as 960 yarns placed vertically on the warp.

Today, the old looms remain as the trusted workhorses in the facto-ry in Sumirago, Italy. Missoni’s tex-tile specialists continue to evolve their functionality, achieving 3-D and ombré effects as well as multi-layered knit mixes of yarns such as silk, cashmere, linen and cotton.

STITCHES IN TIMEOver more than five decades, Valentino’s seamstresses have em-broidered, appliquéd and stitched on enough beads to create an em-bellished dress big enough to cloak the entire Eternal City, where the fashion house’s atelier resides.

The home of these couture sarto-rial skills, in Piazza Mignanelli, is divided into two workshops. Heavy fabrics and outerwear are handled by one group of tailors, while the other specializes in lighter tex-tiles and embroideries. Bold, pre-cise needlework from this work-shop created the coral fronds that branch over several designs from Valentino’s couture fall collection. A cape and matching dress with the motif took 750 hours to complete.

SPECIAL EDITIONThough he hailed from nearby Naples, Salvatore Ferragamo be-came the epitome of the Florentine artisan, moving his shoemaking business there in the Thirties.

Some of his shoemaking tech-niques are still used on the work-shop floor today, and they are also behind the luxury brand’s new Special Edition shoes for men. Handmade in seven styles out of full grain, alligator or calf leather, every pair of Special Edition shoes is created with 260 handcrafted steps over three weeks in an ate-lier that produces only 10 pairs of shoes a day. Starting price: $2,100.

GEM FOCUSSerenity presides around Bulgari’s historical high-end jewelry work-shop in Rome, where artisans lis-ten to music through headphones to keep focused on their steady

handiwork. Some peer through powerful magnifying glasses to mount tiny stones in elaborate de-signs, while others set bigger gems in a wax mold — a process used before a precious jewelry piece is cast in gold.

Bulgari’s forte for colored stones is shown in this tourmaline, ame-thyst and emerald necklace, where emerald beads are carefully at-tached to conical gold links. Each step of workmanship is meticu-lously examined by quality control before the final piece is ready to hit the glass case at retail.

FUR FORTITUDEReplete with dedicated fur arti-sans, Fendi’s in-house fur atelier has been part of the company since its founding in 1925. Over the de-cades, the highly skilled craftsmen have evolved and invented tech-niques to keep up with designer Karl Lagerfeld’s innovative rendi-tions of the ultraluxe material.

Modern Fendi fur treatments include shearing, weaving, dyeing with edgy patterns such as camou-flage, and even dipping some pelts in 24-karat gold.

Pictured, a key fall fur look for the brand, the elaborately made Astuccio fur. Created using the “let-out technique,” the fur is cut into long, thin stripes in a V shape. These stripes are then sewn back together on blocks in a staggered style to give the fur a longer shape.

The process demands a nimble, untiring hand — a mink cape takes about 220 hours to complete.

BAMBOO STORYArtisanship is behind Gucci’s most iconic accessories, but the story of the bamboo handle is also testa-ment to the house’s style savvy.

In the midst of war-time ra-tioning in 1947, fine leathers were scarce. The craftsmen heated bam-boo cane imported from Japan, bending it into a semicircle as a handle on a small structured hand-bag. The Gucci Bamboo bag dangled from the arms of countless celebri-ties in the Fifties and Sixties, and was one of the Florentine fashion house’s most successful handbags.

Fond of updating house clas-sics, Gucci creative director Frida Giannini reinterpreted the design in the New Bamboo, made up of 130 pieces hand-assembled by an arti-san, requiring two days to finish.

The bamboo handle is still cre-ated as it was more than 65 years ago, and is featured on several other Gucci handbags and briefcase styles for fall, including the new Lady Lock women’s bag.

High technology has inarguably made production better and more efficient in many parts of the manufacturing cycle, but sometimes, the old ways are the best ways. By Stephanie Epiro

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ITALIAN FASHION executives often have divergent views of the fashion world as they fiercely battle to maintain their market niche against their local competitors as well as those from overseas.

But there is one topic on which they are in complete unison: Made in Italy crafts-manship. Their remarks, filled with pride and plea-sure in the unique skills of Italian artisans and the pipe-line that stretches from raw materials to finished goods, are quasi lyrical.

“If a company doesn’t have the skills to create a prototype with its own imprint, it’s like wanting to play music without the right instrument,” said Stefano Sassi, chief executive officer of Valentino Fashion Group SpA.

Executives say the Made in Italy campaign has clout around the world, a strength that Italian executives are set on fostering at all costs. But how is the Italian indus-try reacting to the resurgence of Made in America produc-tion and to the recent New York Fashion Manufacturing Initiative, which seeks to raise funds for existing factories and acquire innovative equip-ment and advanced technolo-gy? Do Italians see a potential challenge to the Made in Italy label looming?

Perhaps not just yet. The reasons, they say, are based in the long-standing tradition of Italian manufacturing.

While chastising politi-cians who turn a blind eye to the needs of the industry, Francesco Pesci, ceo of luxury men’s wear brand Brioni, was “not worried” by potential competition from the U.S., as he said the region lacks the “strength” of Italy’s pipeline, which ranges from textiles to shoes and accessories.

“It’s not a primary sec-tor for Americans, and they realistically can’t compete with our artisans and their know-how because of the history they have,” said Pesci, expressing more con-cern over possible competi-tion from France or the U.K. “Americans were never our competitors in this sense, but they have now realized that the advantages of outsourcing have diminished as economic progress advances in those areas considered production havens for their low costs.”

Also, with the 2009 cri-sis, “Americans rediscov-ered the value of work in manufacturing, versus the financial world’s multiplica-tion of bread and fish,” said Pesci. “The manufacturing chain brings a longer-term and more measured wealth that is ethically and socially more acceptable.”

He underscored that Made in Italy “cannot be a marketing label,” and that it should be associated with a certain lifestyle and “a more human dimension.”

Pesci was more concerned with the potential buyout of key elements of the produc-tion chain in Italy. While the acquisition of Italian brands by foreign groups is widely reported on — and Brioni itself is part of the French luxury group Kering — atten-tion should also be paid to the “silent” purchase of vital pro-duction hubs like those found in the Biella textile district. While France is widely seen

as a strategic partner, Pesci said Italy’s know-how should be preserved.

“Italians are individualists — but it’s easy to say that it’s only the entrepreneur’s fault [that fashion groups have not emerged here]. Politics should be involved, too. Italy doesn’t have a program of acquisitions to continue the supply chain,” explained Pesci, who is “sharing this discussion with Kering.” The executive pointed out that a company like Brioni “needs

to be sure” it can continue to buy certain fabrics in the long term, for example.

An industry source who spoke on condition of ano-nymity said the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton acqui-sition of Loro Piana was a sen-sitive issue, as the Quarona, Italy-based company is not only a producer, but also “a buyer of raw materials, one that has the power to control and defend [the market] from the fluctuation of prices.” The source pointed to LVMH’s po-tential arm-wrestling in favor of its own stable of brands in terms of raw materials.

Armando Branchini ,

deputy chairman of Milan consultancy InterCorporate, said “re-insourcing” is part of the second phase of glo-balization and the opera-tions of national support.

“The first phase was that of outsourcing and relocating, as companies were looking for the lowest cost per product unit to become cost leaders,” said Branchini, citing econo-mist Michael Porter’s strate-gies to achieve and maintain competitive advantage.

Today, the second phase

is characterized by a produc-tion that has become closer to the consumer, who de-mands consistency and a link with the territory, finding this more reassuring, according to Branchini. “News of Apple producing in California sent shares way up, for example. There is more attention to social responsibility and soli-darity, as customers want to know that a product was made locally where working con-ditions were respected and without any exploitation,” said Branchini. In terms of a possible American rivalry, Branchini, who is also vice chairman of luxury goods association Fondazione Altagamma, said: “We are not worried, we are pleased with the project, but it mainly touches products that are not in competition with ours.”

While there is no denying the power of the American gov-ernment or the deep pockets of industry entrepreneurs ver-sus a country that is only now seeing the first signs of an eco-nomic recovery, Italian fashion brands have also been invest-ing in technology and machin-ery. Case in point is Versace, which has been restructur-ing its manufacturing plant in Novara, Italy, since 2009 to boost in-house manufacturing and raise the quality bar.

“For example, we had a small production in Switzerland for Versace Collection for men’s that has been brought back to Italy,” said Gian Giacomo Ferraris, ceo of Versace SpA. Ferraris said he did not see any chal-lenges from the U.S. in the

short term, given Italy’s “very efficient network.”

Patrizio di Marco, Gucci president and ceo, said “in-novation” was at the core of the house since the begin-ning, citing as an example the introduction of bamboo in the Forties, when more tradi-tional raw materials were in short supply due to World War II. Today, Gucci’s reputation continues to rest on a combi-nation of artisanal craftsman-ship, creativity, innovation, research and development, said di Marco.

“We nurture these values tirelessly through the close collaboration that exists be-tween our creative director [Frida Giannini], her design team, our artisans and our loyal suppliers.

“As for the Made in Italy label, I think it is in very safe hands, built on centuries of craft and savoir faire, handed down from generation to gen-eration that cannot be simply replicated elsewhere by in-dustrial processes. Made in Italy has a significance and value in the minds of knowl-edgeable consumers around the world that is perhaps only comparable with Switzerland’s reputation for the craft of watchmaking,” he said.

To be sure, most Italian companies that produce ev-erything in Italy have de-veloped their own pipeline. “Industrial integration is fundamental, as the empha-sis is on quality and know-how,” said Valentino’s Sassi. The Rome-based company counts ventures with shoe

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Playing to Their StrengthsDespite challenges from the Made In USA push, Italian executives are capitalizing on their

historic advantages in manufacturing and supply-chain management. By Luisa Zargani

{Continued on page 6}

Industrial integration is fundamental, as the emphasis is on quality

and know-how.— STEFANO SASSI, VALENTINO

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Versace’s metal knit bustier dress with metallic leather inserts, Roberto Cavalli's crocodile leather coat with python skin inserts trimmed with fox fur and Giorgio Armani’s silver jumpsuit, all made in Italy.

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PARTNERING WITH FIVE PREMIER ITALIAN UNIVERSITIES TO CREATE A FIRST- OF-ITS-KIND ACADEMIC SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM, Condé Nast is helping to develop Italy’s cultural communities of the future. Each scholarship is designed to cultivate talent in disciplines that are at the core of Condé Nast’s brands—fashion, fi lm, art, and journalism.

CONGRATULATIONS to Diego Salerno on receiving the Vogue Women’s Fashion Scholarship, to Alberto Furlan on being awarded the GQ Men’s Fashion Scholarship, to Francesco Fanuele on winning the Vanity Fair Film Scholarship, to Stefano Meli on earning the W Art Scholarship, and to Marisa Eleonora Labanca on receiving The New Yorker Journalism Scholarship.

CONDÉ NASTCELEBRATES ITALY

By Investing in the Next Generation of Italy’s Artists and Entrepreneurs

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and handbag suppliers, for example. “Without this, it’s difficult to control sourcing, production quality and re-search and innovate, so that style and production are in line with each other.”

The destiny of some pro-duction companies is guar-anteed by big groups, but it is true Italy also has a uni-verse of small- and medium-size firms.

“As we grow, we can give guarantees to our workers, we can provide employment and help smaller companies,” observed Sassi. The executive did not see many similarities between Italy and the U.S., which has a history of out-sourcing. “The U.S. is based on a different type of economy. Manufacturing is less relevant in that industrial structure and has a lesser impact na-tionally, compared to Italy,

where manufacturing has a strategic relevance,” he said.

“For me, Made in Italy means beautiful, well-made and conceived in Italy, from start to finish,” said Giorgio Armani. A spokesman for the house said the group is “un-usual insofar as it owns all the industrial companies respon-sible for the production of its collections, in close collabo-ration with the style office in Milan. This optimizes manage-ment of the entire production process, right from the design phase, ensuring consistently high-quality standards” that are in sync with the firm’s basic principles.

“It is also significant that, at a time when many designers are moving production abroad, to the contrary, the Armani group has focused all its ef-forts in Italy, so as to breathe new life into the luxury sec-tor,” the spokesman added.

“Not to mention its significant investments on accessories, re-flecting the group’s increasing interest in this sector.”

Italian entrepreneurs are very much aware of the value of know-how and continue to invest in Made in Italy, with-out expecting any help from the government, according to Massimo Ferretti, chairman of Aeffe SpA, which controls the Alberta Ferretti, Moschino and Pollini brands and pro-duces and distributes collec-tions for Cédric Charlier and Emanuel Ungaro. “Creativity can be international, there is no passport, but the pipeline offers a very strong competi-tive advantage,” said Ferretti. “I am appreciative that the U.S. is working on developing their production, but Italians are the undisputed leaders in the pipeline, from the raw materials to printing. It’s a fast system, which makes the

difference,” given the speedy pace of the fashion industry.

Gianluca Brozzetti, ceo of the Roberto Cavalli group, concurred, saying that he un-derstands how Americans would be working on bringing back and enhancing their own manufacturing.

“It’s a precious asset, and also a marketing tool. I’m sure that a consumer in the U.S. would rather buy something made locally than in Vietnam, say,” remarked Brozzetti, expressing reservations on whether the Made in America label would have the same res-onance in France or Italy or be able to attract consumers

more than goods produced in either of those two countries.

As for the credit crunch in Italy, Brozzetti believes com-panies known for their “ex-cellence” always secure the funds needed.

Michele Norsa, ceo of Salvatore Ferragamo, said the Made in Italy label should be better communicated to Italian shoppers themselves, as he believes this asset is not top-of-mind locally as much as it is outside national borders.

“It’s something to be proud of,” he said. Likewise, he urged his peers to believe in “aggregating” to be more com-petitive. “We have historically failed at joining forces, com-pared with France or the U.K., for example.”

The executive was unfazed about competition from the U.S., as barring sports and denim, America doesn’t have a specific manufacturing tra-

dition in ready-to-wear or ac-cessories.

Tomaso Trussardi, ceo of TRS Evolution, the Trussardi group company that produces the brand’s first and second lines of clothing and acces-sories, said there was “no doubt that there has been a boom in recent years of the Made in USA movement, with the international success of U.S. brands and new business models, but this must not be a concern for Italian companies. On the contrary, it encourages us to intelligently invest to expand production processes and support Made in Italy ex-cellence and our heritage.”

He noted there is a link be-tween Italian fashion and the concept of luxury. “The use of the finest raw materials, su-perb tailoring and sartorial approach, and an extreme focus on detail are key char-acteristics of Italian-made products that are also a part of Trussardi’s DNA. To safe-guard them, targeted invest-ments in production process-es are fundamental.

“People who do not rec-ognize Italian values might consider 100 percent Italian production and the artisan crafting by hand of leather goods a great cost. However, for Trussardi, there is no other way to produce our gar-ments, and this added value is perceived by the market and consumers. The production of superb handbags, clothes and accessories is our own person-al contribution to safeguarding Made in Italy excellence.”

Playing to Their Strengths

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Here and right: Working with skins at Gucci.

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The use of the finest raw materials, superb tailoring and sartorial

approach, and an extreme focus on detail are key characteristics of

Italian-made products.— TOMASO TRUSSARDI, TRS EVOLUTION

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SERVING AS THE CREATIVE back-bone of Italian fashion for centuries, artisans hold the key to the industry’s future.

But a dearth of bench strength in the younger generations is prompting brand executives and manufacturers to take action to ensure the future.

In the aftermath of the country’s economic crisis, unemployment rates among those between the ages of 15 and 29 measured 28 percent in July — compared to 17.5 percent in 2004. Fashion executives say this number shows Italian youth isn’t attracted to careers in crafts, with many emigrat-ing to other countries to find their fu-tures. The solution being eyed by the industry is to create more and better fashion schools to train a new breed of artisans, which in turn, they hope, will attract more production.

These new artisans will not only be able to use their hands in a special-ized craft to create something beauti-ful and unique, they will be skilled in using highly sophisticated technology and also have a solid understanding of market requests and of the needs of specific distribution channels. Hopefully, they will also learn how to transform tradition into something modern and marketable.

“The future of Made In Italy, the future of the Italian fashion industry, rests in this new breed of artisan,” said Stefano Micelli, professor of economics and business management at Venice’s Cà University. Micelli authored “Future Artisan — the Innovation in the Hands of the Italians,” first pub-lished in 2011 and reprinted this year. For Micelli, Italian fashion needs a new generation of multitasking, techni-cally savvy artisans.

“I like hearing about these new small brands created in the spirit of Kickstarter.com [a Web site that raises funds for creative projects via crowd sourcing], by finding a heritage or culture and infusing that into a product that’s special, gaining trac-tion through new distribution chan-nels, and then afterward, producing to meet demand,” he said.

Micelli’s vision is shared by many other Italian fashion heavyweights, some of which are opening private schools to attract and train the next generation of artisans.

Spurred by his love of teaching, in October Brunello Cucinelli will wel-come 20 students to his new “School of Crafts” in Solomeo, the medieval vil-lage in Umbria the designer and entre-preneur has restored.

“We think that learning an artisan craft can provide a dignified future and new prospects for today’s youth,” Brunello Cucinelli said, adding the company’s internal training courses accommodate 60 apprentices each day. “It’s my wish that learning an ar-tisan craft becomes a noble occupa-tion once again, as it was during the Renaissance.”

Heightening the allure for pro-spective students, Cucinelli carefully planned the school’s duo of knitwear courses around a traditional Italian school timetable, running for five hours a day and nine months of the year. He’ll also be paying the stu-

dents — who apply through a public notice — a monthly salary of $1,000 for a year. The school is located next door to the designer’s namesake theater, where other students study prose, music and dance, and attend seminars on philosophy, architecture, history and philosophy.

“They will have a chance to share ideas and learn beyond their craft,” Cucinelli said. “At the end of the year, they will graduate with a document that explains their level of skill so they can get a job in our company or at another Italian fashion house. It is my hope to create a Renaissance bottega [“shop”], one that encourages the young to be proud of a career in craftsmanship. And I hope it is suc-cessful so I can double the students the following year.”

Operating an in-house tailoring school since 1985, many of Brioni’s 200 tailors learned their craft in the academy, located near the company’s headquarters in Penne, Abruzzo. Francesco Pesci, Brioni’s chief execu-tive officer, says the school’s training

techniques are constantly updated in order to groom a modern, globe-trot-ting tailor who is just as comfortable working on the computer as he is with a measuring tape.

“Our tailors are the reason why all of our sartorial processes are digi-talized today — they have computer-ized this part of their work, they are much more technically savvy and world traveled than the tailors of yesterday,” Pesci added.

The school can train as many as 30 apprentice tailors over a two-year course. Apart from tailoring, the stu-dents are taught mathematics, informa-tion technology and languages to prep them for overseas travel.

“I am boldly saying that if we didn’t have our tailoring school, Brioni wouldn’t exist as it does today,” Pesci. “It is the fundamental driving the cre-ative and quality force of our brand. It’s also important because it gives us the balance of youth in the tailoring de-partment — our chief master tailor is in his early 40s.”

Other than internal company train-ing programs, Italy offers 39 fashion courses in nine fashion colleges en-compassing all areas of fashion pro-duction. Schools report increasing foreign enrollments, and are attract-ing students with updated courses that are practical with a greater emphasis on technology.

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Launching new, sophisticated training programs and opening schools is the key to developing the next generation of craftsmen for the Italian fashion industry. By Stephanie Epiro

The New Artisans

The future of Made In Italy, the future of

the Italian fashion industry, rests in this new breed of artisan.

— STEFANO MICELLI, CÀ UNIVERSITY

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Brioni has its own tailoring school.

Brunello Cucinelli’s School of Crafts in Solomeo, near Umbria.

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At Polimoda, where 65 percent of the students are foreign but the major-ity go on to work in Italian companies, graduates are prepped to be “immedi-ately operational” after taking one of 27 fashion courses.

“I want to be a leader in fashion de-sign and technology courses, and you can’t teach these syllabuses without constant updating,” explained Linda Loppa, director. “You have to be ahead of the students and surprise them with new concepts and ways of thinking.”

The Florence-based school launched a new Web site, Polimodatalent.com, in June. It features graduates’ portfolios, cre-ated for browsing by possible employers.

“We realize that not all fashion companies can come and view the students’ work when they graduate, or perhaps they need someone when the students are in the middle of their course,” said Loppa.

At Milan’s Politecnico, the president of the fashion design program, Alba

Cappellieri, ensures graduating de-signers have experience in all aspects of the fashion industry.

“Plastic was invented at this Politecnico, so we come from a scien-tific base,” said Cappellieri, “but our motto is we construct futures — which is why our designers also learn new technology, how to work with innova-tive fabrics, how to follow logistics of competitors, market positioning and processes of retail and distribution, sales and communication.”

Italian fashion schools’ push to cre-ate more experienced and technically savvy graduates has benefited Italian-made fashion brands such as Avant Toi, a small luxury knitwear firm based in Genoa.

“Sometimes it’s hard for us to find new staff because of the wrong training they’ve had, or simply be-cause they feel that being an artisan is beneath them,” explained Fiorella Ghignone, Avant Toi’s director. “There are so many young people in Italy

who are unemployed with degrees in philosophy and anthropology, for ex-ample. I think we really need to raise the bar on the prestige of training to become an artisan. It’s not for every-one, but it is a beautiful job — every day they create art.”

Half of Avant Toi’s staff are arti-sans specialized in knitwear as well as printing, embroidery and appli-qué processes — to create the brand’s cashmere knits priced between $500 and $3,000. Ghignone said the com-pany has had more success hiring interns and junior staff from fash-ion colleges Marangoni in Milan and Polimoda in Florence.

Like most of Italy’s industry, fash-ion schools and major luxury firms are located in the Northern areas but plans are afoot to open the first fashion school in Southern Italy, in Nardò, Puglia. The joint project was devised by Giuseppe Baiardo, founder of Iris shoe manufacturers, and Luciano Barbetta, owner of a

luxury clothing manufacturing firm in Salento, Puglia. The duo will re-ceive funding from the region and the Chamber of Commerce.

They hit on the idea when Baiardo opened a shoe production factory in Puglia and they noted the region’s high unemployment, especially among youths. Like many areas of Southern Italy, Barbetta explained, young peo-ple are emigrating to find careers in England or Australia.

Baiardo is a board member of the Politecnico in Stra, near Venice, considered the hub of Italy’s shoe-making area.

“We need to open more schools to create destinations for brands to produce here because of the crafts-manship. In my own company, I take 25 to 30 students a year, so I know ex-actly how I want the courses, a mix of artisan assembly and finishing but also a big emphasis on technology — they also need to operate a robot that nails a heel to a shoe, for example.”

Tentatively titled the Politecnico of Art, Fashion and Crafts, the pair plan to inaugurate the school next year but run some courses starting next month. Barbetta, who owns a clothing-manufacturing business that produces for several luxury brands including Gucci, remains adamant the Italian economy can be “reacti-vated” by fashion schools.

“I believe we are on the cusp of a new renaissance for Italian manufac-turing,” Barbetta said. “For me, the an-swer is to create new schools to recoup artisan values and teach techniques that encompass culture, technology, spirituality and nostalgia. That, in turn, will create artisans who can make something ethical, real and intriguing — and that will be a magnet for brands to produce in Italy.”

The New Artisans

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Brioni’s chief master tailor, Angelo Di Febo.

Digital shoe design at Iris. Part of the prodution process at Avant Toi.

We really need to raise the bar on the

prestige of training to become an artisan. — FIORELLA GHIGNONE,

AVANT TOI

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ITALIAN FASHION HOUSES like to tout the artisanal qual-ity of their products: Made in Italy, they say, means not only beautiful, but well-crafted. Less publicized are the work-ing conditions of those doing the crafting, although follow-ing the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh this year, some Italian firms are shining a spot-light on that aspect of business, hoping that consumers will come to view it as a compelling reason to buy Italian clothes.

“In 2012, the Italian textile industry brought in about 8 billion euros [about $10.7 bil-lion] leading to an active trade balance of over 2.5 billion euros [about $3.34 billion],” said Silvio Albini, president of the Milano Unica textile trade show. “So there is a significant monetary added value, but also a very important intan-gible added value — which is difficult to quantify but that is intrinsic in the value of cloth-ing made with our textiles.”

According to a report pub-lished by fashion and textile consortium Sistema Moda Italia, from January to May of this year, intra-European Union exports of Italian tex-tiles dropped 3.6 percentage points, and exports to non-EU countries dropped 3.2 percent.

How something is made affects quality, said Claudio Marenzi, president of SMI and of Herno, the high-end sports-wear company.

“In my opinion, it should be an added value for consum-ers knowing that what they are wearing is not only high quality in terms of the cloth and the pro-duction techniques and so forth, but is also ethically correct,” he said. “I must say that, alas, based on the marketing studies that have been done with con-sumers, there is relatively little sensitivity to this....At the time of purchase, what counts is the bal-ance between quality and price, and brand awareness.”

Consumers might be oblivi-ous to working conditions, but fashion companies that hire artisanal operations to manu-facture their collections are anything but, said Luciano Barbetta, sole administrator at Barbetta Srl, a firm in the southern province of Lecce, Apulia, that supplies finished clothing items to luxury fash-ion firms, and provides a range of services including textile research, fabric testing and washing. He said his clients — 90 percent of which are non-Italian — are extremely atten-tive to their supplier’s compli-ance with safety, health and environmental regulations, and frequently send inspectors to visit the site and those of its affiliated suppliers.

“They want to see that the machinery is safe, that sala-

ries are in line with Italian norms and the cost of living, that we’ve paid our taxes,” he said, noting that one major cli-ent — Gucci — was especially involved in checking up on factory conditions.

About 150 people work di-

rectly for Barbetta, and anoth-er 150 work at nearby business-es that together form a network of specialized artisans with “an almost exasperating attention to detail,” Barbetta said. Most of the staff at Barbetta is fe-male, and all employees work eight hours a day.

At the top end of the busi-ness, some earn a net salary of about 4,000 to 5,000 euros, or $5,342 to $6,677, each month, while a lower-level worker might earn 1,200 to 1,300 euros monthly, or about $1,600 to $1,735 net. Barbetta said while Italian taxes were burdensome on both employers and employ-ees, taxes and bureaucracy, in the scheme of things, were less important than respecting “the human dignity of workers.”

He also said in countries where the cost of living was lower, it was natural that fac-tory workers earned lower salaries, thus creating compe-tition. “But those who want to delocalize should first verify that safety conditions are re-spected,” he said. “That’s the globalization gap. This should

be of concern to everyone.”Fiorentino Bettoni, owner

of Deb, a button and belt pro-duction company headquar-tered in Bergamo — affec-tionately known as “Button Valley” — said he had about 20 employees in Italy and 20 in a

factory in Hungary. Both EU countries, he said, follow strict laws concerning safety.

“Hungary used to be even stricter than Italy, then we caught up,” Bettoni noted.

Italian manufacturing is concentrated on the mid to high level of the market, he said. “There are advantageous prices elsewhere, but safety and quality are less certain and vary in many cases, whereas in Italy one can be quite sure of standards,” he said, citing noise levels, cleanliness, pollution and safety among inspectors’ concerns.

Raffaele Caruso SpA, a Neapolitan company that moved to Soragna, near Parma, in 1958, is known for its sartorial men’s suits. President and chief executive officer Umberto Angeloni said 92.7 percent of Caruso’s employees have permanent contracts and all work regular eight-hour days, five days a week.

“The company promotes a culture of safety, developing

an awareness of risks and pro-moting responsible behaviors for all employees,” he said.

Barbara Donadon, ceo of Altana SpA, a children’s wear production company based in the northeastern Veneto region, near Treviso, said the firm’s clients are very de-manding in terms of worker safety, “from drawing up the contract to managing the ev-eryday work.”

“Inspections are done pe-riodically, both internally and by our clients’ specialized departments,” she said. “Our approach is systematic: Safety is not seen as an external ele-ment to our various activities, but as an integral part of pro-duction processes.”

Donadon noted Altana’s employees had approximately six weeks vacation every year and their contracts were the result of collective bargaining.

Francesco Rotondi, found-

ing partner of Lablaw, a Milan studio specialized in labor law, said in the early Nineties, Italian laws started becom-ing more European in scope. Today, member countries must follow EU directives, although they each have some autonomy in implementation based on their existing socioeconomic systems. “Italy did not have much trouble adapting to the European directives, because its system was already among the most protective,” Rotondi said, noting that in the Sixties and Seventies, there was a big movement to improve work-ers’ conditions. More recently, the focus has shifted to giving employees a reasonable work-to-life balance and ensuring workplace safety.

Italy differs from other European countries in the dominant role it gives workers’ unions, which must follow the laws of the Italian Constitution but have significant freedom in negotiating the specifics — working hours, time off, mini-

mum pay — through collective bargaining in the form of pri-vate contracts with unions rep-resenting companies.

“The Constitution deter-mines that workers must get time off, for example, but col-lective agreements determine exactly what that means for each sector,” Rotondi said.

Companies, meanwhile, are required to file detailed information about their op-erations with the government, signaling how much overtime their employees have worked, and offering evidence that foreign employees are in the country legally and have a home, for instance.

A judge has the power to de-cide whether specific private contracts follow the spirit of Italian and European laws. If workers feel that their rights have been violated, Rotondi said they can individually file complaints with the authorities

and take their employers to court, or they can ask their unions to file com-plaints on their behalf. If authorities discover unsafe working conditions during inspections, they may also take companies to court. Penalties can be civil, re-quiring the payment of damages, or criminal, lead-ing to prison sentences.

“We can improve on the application of our laws,” Rotondi said. “Our system has evolved out of

2,000 years of experience, so we have a good legal structure in place. It’s in the efficient execution of our laws that we can improve.”

Marenzi of SMI agreed, noting: “I’ve seen factories just about everywhere, from eastern Europe to China, the Midwest in the U.S., Japan…Italy is a country where inter-national consumers can rest easy — in terms of products and in terms of the workers making the products, we are at the highest level.”

“Overall, I find Italy ethi-cally sound. What doesn’t work in Italy is the bureau-cracy, which is too slow,” he concluded. “The inspections and authorizations take too long…and hiring is a tie al-most stronger than marriage.”

Leaders in the Italian fash-ion industry believe their companies are doing ev-erything possible to protect workers’ welfare. It remains to be seen if consumers will reward these efforts.

Standard BearersWorking conditions, safety and reasonable wages are among the biggest concerns of Italy’s manufacturing sector. By Cynthia Martens

Francesco Rotondi

Barbara Donadon

A clean and safe working environment is paramount at the Deb factory.

In terms of products and in terms of the

workers making the products, [Italy is] at

the highest level.— CLAUDIO MARENZI,

SMI AND HERNO

WWD.COMSECTION II

WWD MADE IN ITALY

1414 WWD THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2013

Employees in the Fashion Industry in Italy1970: 1,087,000

1980: 107,300

1990: 919,000

2000: 661,000

2010: 486,000

2012: 358,000SOURCE: ARES 2.0

Fast Facts and Stats9,991: Number of textile factories in Italy, 2011.Northwest: 3,078Northeast: 2,120Central Italy: 3,129South: 1,261Islands: 403

36,616: Number of textile employees in Italy, 2011.Northwest: 12,474Northeast: 9,084Central Italy: 11,151South: 3,095Islands: 812

Textile Employees1991: 129,2162001: 85,6832011: 36,616

Textile Factories1991: 32,5912001: 21,3212011: 9,991SOURCE: ARES 2.0

Polimoda, Florence ! 1,200 students.! 60 percent internationalstudents.! 300 students in internships.! 83 percent of students employed in six months.! 150 teachers.! Three campuses.

Politecnico Calzaturiero, Padua! 2,500 students.! 150 students: School of Design and Technology for Footwear.! 80 Students: Postgraduate courses.! 100 students: Manufacturing training courses for specialized workers.! 2,170 students: Specialization and refresher courses.! 85 percent of studentsemployed in the first year.! 20,000 hours of courses.

Marangoni, Milan! 2,500 students.! Four campuses: Milan, Paris, London, Shanghai.! Students from 92 countries.! Four major programs: Preparatory, Annual, three-year bachelor’s degree, master’s degree.SOURCE: SCHOOL WEB SITES

Schools…by the Numbers

Wool Mill: Based in Biella, which remains the home of Italy’s fine wool textile producers, Vitale Barberis Canonico wove its first cloth, a gray wool, in 1663, and promptly sold it to the Duke of Savoy.

Silk Mill: Before Como was established as Italy’s silk capital, during and after the Renaissance, Florence was teeming with nobility and high society who wore silk. The Antico Setificio Fiorentino was founded in Florence in 1786, and still has a machine designed by Leonardo da Vinci to produce its samples.SOURCE: COMPANY WEB SITES

Oldest Textile Factories in Italy

The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is Italy’s oldest silk mill, founded in 1786.

Polimoda’s Web site.

By Anna Novaro

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