Did you know that, if the world ever manages to beat Coronavirus and you survive, you will still be able to find in shops (the physical and digital ones that will manage to pull through this pandemic) those "Made in Italy" designer shoes by that luxury fashion house that you were coveting? No, it is not elves that are producing them, but real workers. Italy at the moment has got more COVID-19 deaths than China and the country is in a lockdown. The government ordered the closure of all nonessential businesses, but some factories producing clothes and accessories for major fashion brands and houses are still open.
The problem is that, while all workers in supermarkets, post offices and chemist shops (deemed essential and therefore open all day long or only in the morning) wear protective masks and gloves to deal with customers, workers in these factories do not have any protective gear.
People working in the Abruzzo-based factory producing shoes (3,000 pairs a day) for Chanel (that is also a major shareholder of the company since 2015), Alexander McQueen and Golden Goose (among the others) received a letter from the company manager (we got a hold of a copy from an internal source) that stated:
"I know that going to work in this situation may sound for some people like a contradiction and I'm aware that the panic spreading does not help carrying on working in a calm and quiet way, but I can assure you we are constantly keeping in touch with the authorities and with the head of safety who, indicating us the measures that we are following as prescribed by the current national directives, is helping us limiting the probabilities of an outbreak of the epidemic in the factory premises."
"The law decree approved by the Government in the previous days allocates 100 Euros to each worker that will heroically go to work in the month of March."
"If we work respecting the safety standards, we will manage to preserve our community from this illnesss that is currently afflicting Italy. Our efforts will be vain if this behaviour is not followed also outside the factory and in its premises where workers may get together, especially during the lunch break or at the end of a shift. I'm therefore writing this letter to remind you about the importance of following the protocols inside and outside the factory."
"As you know, protective masks are difficult to find at the moment, but they are a necessary precaution only in case two people are standing at less than one metre one from the other, but we are trying to find them anyway for all the workers and we should get a consignment this week."
"We don't know yet how hard the recession following this historical moment will hit us. But I'm closing this letter saying 'Everything will go well'."
Once you reach the end of this letter a question pops up in your mind: if in Italy only essential businesses are open and the government is thinking of curbing down even their opening times to contain the infection, why are such companies producing luxury shoes still open? And is it worth being a hero for a little extra cash for one month only when you may get infected doing so?
There are actually further questions such as why do the fashion houses and brands such companies work for aren't supporting these factories sending them safety gear or hand sanitizer? If even Chanel has closed its shops in many countries all over the world, including Italy and France, because of Coronavirus, you wonder why the lives of workers in factories producing Chanel shoes should be put in jeopardy.
You may argue that support for such factories should come from the Italian government and some measures such as tax deferrals and social payments have been implemented, but this letter doesn't mention what will happen if one of their workers is diagnosed with Coronavirus.
Sure, factories owned by private entrepreneurs working for fashion houses like this one based in Italy are mainly trying to stay in business and save their workers, so it is only natural for them to keep production going. But there may be a solution to stay in business while producing something that may be more useful now than luxury shoes.
There are companies in Italy that usually produce materials for the fashion industry that have temporarily reconverted their premises to manufacture safety products: shoe factory Everyn in Capanne, Montopoli Val D'Arno (Pisa) has started producing TNT surgical masks that will be donated to the city of Montopoli, while Manifattura di Domodossola will provide for free the elastics needed for face masks.
Bari's Polytechnics is coordinating some companies that usually produce clothes, baby wipes, tampons and shoes to produce surgical masks. More firms have joined the effort of reconverting to manufacture much needed face masks: Mantua-based lingerie company Artemisia, Bergamo-based knitwear factory Santini and Alba-based textile manufacturer Miroglio; car upholstery maker Dreoni Giovanna in Vaiano (Prato); luxury packaging company BC Boncar di Busto Arsizio (Varese); and textile and clothes companies GDA in Lecce, Machattie in Prato and Montrasio Italia, Aicurzio (in Monza-Brianza). Parma's cosmetics company Davines focused instead on producing a hand sanitizer that has been donated to people and organisations in need (in the same way in France luxury conglomerate LVMH recently announced it will use the production lines of its perfume and cosmetic brands to manufacture large quantities of hand sanitizer that will be distributed for free in hospitals).
The world will change at the end of the global Coronavirus pandemic: the International Labour Organisation estimates that almost 25 million people globally will be left unemployed after the pandemic. The fashion industry will be hit hard: there is fear for factory workers all over the world, especially for those ones in third-world countries producing items for fast fashion brands. But people will be hit at all levels of the industry - retail staff will obviously be affected; freelancers will find fewer jobs and even influencers who may still be posting on social networks images of their outfits of the day, seem worried about having to cancel trips and projects because of Coronavirus.
So while Voguerunway.com superficially wonders what's the best dressing gown to wear while working from home (the secret of surviving the alienation caused by smart working / telecommuting is actually dressing as if you were going to work, rather than letting yourself go...), questions linger for these factory workers in Italy: is it worth risking your life for a little extra money (100 Euros) in your paycheck and what's the point of producing luxury shoes that not many people may be able to afford once / if / when they will ever get on the market? The dilemmas remain.
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