The dark side of Made in Italy…
“Made in Italy” is anchored in our minds in fashion with the highest quality and craftsmanship. However, how can it be that we often pay less for this high standard of quality at Italian weekly markets or even in domestic retail stores than at the big chain stores?
Let’s take as an example a blazer “Made in Italy” for 79€. After a very simple research on Amazon, this amount is already shockingly optimistic.
In the industry standard calculation, 20% of the price goes into the product. So in this case we are talking about about 16€ that goes into sourcing the raw material, buttons and wages. Even the minimum wage in Germany, which is 9.15€/hour, would be difficult to map here, right? With the minimum wage in Romania (2,50€) one would come already further… How good that one does not have to worry about it in the parallel world in Prato (Tuscany). Italy is completely excluded from the minimum wage in the EU.
A plane ticket as a wage
We are always shocked every year when we are reminded of the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh. But it is so far away that this horror about the working conditions of the mainly female workers quickly disappears. But how does it look when we have such conditions right on our doorstep, about 20km away from a beautiful city like Florence?
Chinese workers live in halls where they work up to 18 hours a day. Many months they even get no wages at all, because they often have to work for their plane ticket first. With an hourly wage of 1€, we are unfortunately already getting closer to the calculation of 16€ for a blazer…
The renaissance of craftsmanship
It is therefore all the more important to prove that “Fashion Made in Italy” as it is anchored in our minds still exists and fortunately is experiencing a new upswing again.
In search of a real “Made in Italy” producer for fewhaben we already after a few minutes in love with the manufacture of the family Sartena in Italy.
Since 1982, high-quality suits, coats and jackets have been handmade here. Attention to detail and intricate tailoring makes a big difference in comfort, longevity and quality! As much emphasis is placed on in-house training as on the selection of high-quality fabrics – also exclusively “Made in Italy”.
There is no question that this workmanship requires a higher investment in the product. few nevertheless makes it its business to be able to offer this luxurious product quality in premium price ranges to a broad target group.
PM