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‘Made in Italy’: Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy named among 13 luxury giants suspected of exploiting Chinese workers

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December 5, 2025

Thirteen further leading luxury brands, including Gucci, Versace and Yves Saint Laurent, are suspected of having used subcontractors in Italy who exploited Chinese workers, according to a request issued on Thursday by the Italian judicial authorities.

A Pakistani worker makes a phone call during an indefinite strike at a ready-to-wear factory owned by a Chinese company in Prato, central Italy, on 1 August 2025. – Stefano Rellandini / AFP

In a request for information seen by AFP, a prosecutor in Milan said they had found bags, wallets and garments from these brands during searches of Italian workshops employing ‘Chinese labour in severely exploitative conditions’.

Thursday’s proceedings concern brands from the French group Kering (Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen), Givenchy (LVMH group), as well as Prada and its new acquisition, Versace, along with Ferragamo, Pinko, Dolce & Gabbana, Missoni, Off-White, leather goods maker Coccinelle, and the sportswear giant Adidas.

The Milan prosecutor is asking the brands, which are presumed innocent, to provide documents on their supply chains promptly, such as internal audits.

Other leading names have already been singled out by the Italian judiciary in similar cases: Dior, LVMH’s second-largest brand, the leather goods houses Tod’s and Alviero Martini, as well as an Armani subsidiary and cashmere specialist Loro Piana.

Poverty pay, workers sleeping in the workshop to produce items sold for thousands of euros: investigations carried out by the Milan public prosecutor’s office have revealed a serious lack of oversight across supply chains.

Under Italian law, companies can be held liable for violations committed by authorised suppliers. Advocates for fashion workers have been denouncing such abuses for decades.

The Italian government has gone on the offensive to defend its brands, with the Minister for Industry and ‘Made in Italy‘, Adolfo Urso, declaring that their reputation was ‘under attack’.

Tod’s, after denying any irregularities, was given an 11-week period by a Milan judge on Wednesday to strengthen its system for monitoring suppliers.

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China’s HongShan eyes $2.9 billion Golden Goose deal by Christmas

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December 5, 2025

China’s HongShan Capital Group (HSG) has sent a 2.5 billion euro ($2.91 billion) offer to private equity Permira to buy Italian luxury sneaker maker Golden Goose, with the aim of signing the deal ⁠by Christmas, daily la Repubblica reported on Friday.

Golden Goose is known for its luxury sneakers – goldengoose.com

Details still need to be ⁠defined but the offer gives the luxury group an enterprise value of 10 times the core profit expected ‍by ‌the end of the year, debt included, ⁠the newspaper said. Golden Goose’s ‌revenues totalled 655 million euros in ‌2024, with an adjusted core profit of 227 million euros.

HSG has asked veteran fashion industry executive Marco Bizzarri to become Golden Goose’s ‍future chairman, la Repubblica said, adding that the Chinese private equity aims to expand Golden Goose’s ‌directly-managed ⁠stores, ​particularly in Asia, and plans to ⁠list ​the group in the medium-term.

Last year the Venice-based company, which sells sneakers for more ​than 500 euros a pair, shelved plans for an initial public offering ⁠on the Milan Bourse, ⁠citing market volatility caused by political uncertainty in Europe.
 

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IKEA to ramp up US production as tariffs bite 

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December 5, 2025

IKEA plans to source more products from factories in the United States, the Swedish furniture group’s top supply chain executive told Reuters, as President Donald Trump‘s tariffs drive up the cost of importing bookcases, mattresses and sofas.

IKEA logo is seen in this illustration taken, February 11, 2025 – REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

This marks a big shift for IKEA after the share of the company’s US-made products declined over the past decade. Inter IKEA, the brand franchiser, used to have a factory in Danville, Virginia, but shut it in 2019 and moved production back to Europe.

IKEA’s push to source products closer to where it sells ⁠them aims to support the retailer’s expansion in the US, its second-biggest market, and the wider region, where it has stores in Canada, Mexico, Chile, and Colombia, with plans to open in ⁠Costa Rica and Panama.

“We are designing our supply chain network to be much more resilient, robust, and responsive,” Susanne Waidzunas, Global Supply Manager at Inter IKEA said in an interview with Reuters, adding that the company’s stores in North and South America are very dependent on furniture being shipped in, ‍with long lead ‌times. 

“The closer we can build, the faster we can react from a supply perspective, both when it goes ⁠up in demand but also when it goes ‌down,” said Waidzunas. The plan to produce closer to US consumers predates this year’s tariff hikes and is part ‌of a global initiative.

But the timing is now beneficial: IKEA prides itself on low prices but was forced to increase them on some products in the US to offset the tariff impact. The retailer’s sales have declined for two years running as it lowered prices to attract inflation-weary shoppers.

SBA Home, a ‍Lithuanian supplier to IKEA, is ramping up its first US factory in Mocksville, North Carolina, a $70 million investment supported in part by Inter IKEA. The factory will make products for IKEA like top-selling KALLAX shelves.

Jurgita Radzevice, CEO of SBA Home, said ‌manufacturing capacity at the largely ⁠automated ​factory, which is expected to produce 2 million pieces of furniture a year, is steadily ⁠increasing.

IKEA depends ​more on imports in the US than elsewhere. Just 15% of IKEA products sold in US stores are made in-country, down from 19% in 2014. In Europe, 70% of the products IKEA sells are made in the region, while the equivalent ​figure for Asia is 80%. Its top sourcing countries are China, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, and Poland.

Producing in the US is more expensive, Waidzunas said, but shipping products across the world is ⁠also more costly and more unpredictable now than before the ⁠COVID-19 pandemic. IKEA plans to buy more from existing US suppliers, which include Ohio-based Sauder Woodworking, and look for new suppliers particularly of bulky items, aiming, for example, to source most of its mattresses in the US.

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Shaftesbury Capital exec director Price to leave

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December 5, 2025

London property giant Shaftesbury Capital has announced that “following the completion of a number of important initiatives Andrew Price, executive director will be stepping down from his role at the end of this year to pursue other opportunities”.

Andrew Price – Shaftesbury Capital

Price joined the business in 2001 and has “undertaken a number of significant investment, asset management and leadership roles”.  

Following the Shaftesbury and Capco merger and the sale of the Fitzrovia portfolio he led the operations team “to achieve efficiencies across the portfolio and drive the enhancement of sustainability initiatives”. 

CEO Ian Hawksworth said that he “made a significant contribution to the company over many years.  He leaves with our thanks and best wishes for the future”.

There was no hint of where he’s off to next.

The news comes less than a month after the company said Michelle McGrath, also an executive director, would be stepping down from her role to pursue other opportunities. She too will leave  at the end of the year.

Shaftesbury Capital was created in 2022 as two of London’s major landlords merged to form an entity that now controls huge swathes of Soho, the West End and Covent Garden. Its properties have been among the most buoyant in recent periods and in an update earlier this month it talked of being “busy and vibrant through this important trading period, with high occupancy, footfall and sales volumes”.

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