Nov 05
‘Made in Italy’…what it really means
Last year, I watched this mini series called ‘Blood, Sweat and T-shirts’ (I blogged about it on my personal blog so I’ll repost here) and it was eye-opening to clothing manufacturing. While I have major concerns about the quality of conditions for workers and how under paid they are, I understood how complex the problem was. First off, there are almost no brands/labels that only manufacture in the US and even then, you don’t know how they are getting the cotton or other materials.
I had started ‘Deluxe’ by Dana Thomas earlier this year (paused reading to let my friend who was reading it with me catch up) and I raved about the book in an old post. I’ve picked it back up to finish it and am reading about globalization from a manufacturing standpoint. Even the most extreme luxury brands have pieces of the clothes, fabrics, etc. made in China, Hong Kong and other places, shipped to them in Italy and then the finishing touches are done there. This is enough for them to be able to mark it as ‘Made in Italy.’ It’s all an illusion of the quality of materials. We as consumers are definitely being manipulated. For anyone into fashion, I said it before, but will again…this book is a must read.
