Elisa Pallotta Beaten up with fists and with a tube of metal and plastic just for asking to be paid. This is what a worker who denounced the inhumane conditions he was forced to live in in one of the Chinese factories involved in the production of garments for Loro Piana spa, an Italian luxury brand.
"Hit with a Pipe": A worker reportedly beaten at a Loro Piana-linked factory.
Just yesterday, Monday 14 July, the news has been made public that Loro Piana spa has ended up under judicial administration. It reportedly failed to adequately monitor its suppliers, some of whom operated under conditions attributable to the caporalato and at the exploitation labor. Production had, in fact, been outsourced to a company that in turn had subcontracted it several times, until it reached a complex network of factories run by Chinese individuals. And it was there, in those hidden environments far from the brand's spotlight, that the prestigious brand's garments were actually sewn. The Court's Prevention Measures Section was clear: Loro Piana "did not effectively control the production chain" and had failed to implement "an adequate organizational structure to prevent the emergence and consolidation of commercial relationships with parties operating under conditions of worker exploitation." The company, for its part, declared its willingness to cooperate with the authorities and announced that it had discovered the existence of some subcontractors only on May 20th. From that moment, he explained, he would interrupted “every relationship with the supplier involved in less than 24 hours.”
The story of a worker beaten in a factory linked to Loro Piana
A chilling story started the investigation.worker The man who was attacked reported that in 2015 he had accepted a job at one of the factories later under investigation. He had agreed to a monthly salary of €1.500 to "work as a tailor." He stated that there was also an employment contract, but "I do not have a copy." That contract supposedly stipulated four hours a day, but the reality was quite different: "from 9 in the morning to 10 in the evening," with just "a half-hour break for lunch and a half-hour break for dinner." No days off, and payment was often in cash. Since 2015, he said, he had been living in a "bedroom adjacent to the factory” located in Baranzate, on the outskirts of Milan. From the end of 2024, the wage He never arrived. The demands for payment first led to tensions, then to a real assault. The owner reportedly hit it with a fist, then with a plastic and aluminum tube: “Theaggression continued and only several hours later and after trying to dissuade the employee from seeking medical care, the employer accompanied the complainant to the emergency room. But he was not the only one in that situation. In the factory there were at least nine other workers, all without residence permits and paid under the table. And the climate, for them too, was one of constant fearThe boss, the victim said, had instructed them on what to do in case of a search: "hide on the third floor of the dormitory building or use the stairs."