“Balance sheets are not saved through lives.” It is with this quote by Adriano Olivetti that the conference held on October 18th, organised by Gianfranco De Nigris, Roberto Montaruli, Bocconi Students for Fashion and B.lab Bocconi, and hosting Brunello Cucinelli, led off. The main focus of the event was sustainability and, as Francesco Perrini – full Professor of Management at Bocconi University and Senior Professor of Corporate Finance & Real Estate at SDA Bocconi – said, on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), or better in this case, to a return to the concept of Community. Introducing Brunello Cucinelli, Professor Perrini described him as a revolutionist, promoter of an alternative entrepreneurial path.…
-
-
(Insert luxury brand here) Made in Sweatshops
Gucci made it to the headlines again — and this time, for the wrong reason. A recent report claimed that Chinese employees for Libero Mondo — one of Gucci’s subcontractors in Italy — worked 14 hours a day on handbags, instead of the contracted 4 hours. Worse, Libero Mondo’s Arnoldo Guidotti proclaimed that Gucci is fully aware of the exploitation, and Gucci buys those bags from Libero Mondo for 24 euros. In store, a Gucci bag retails for approximately 1000 euros. Kering (once Pinault Printempts Redoute or PPR), Gucci’s parent company, responded that they would include additional measures to ensure that incidents like these would never repeat again. Yet, in 2002, Brylane — a US based clothing supplier for Kering —…
