Read the story:
PRATO, ITALY — The “Made in Italy” label conjures images of little old men and women in aprons and spectacles, stooped over wooden tables, cutting leather and sewing by hand in workshops that dot the hills of Tuscany.
It certainly doesn’t make you picture Chinese immigrants toiling long hours in ramshackle, poorly illuminated sheds, and then sleeping in small rooms behind thin plywood right there in the factories.
These days, the coveted “Made in Italy” label on those Prada bags and Gucci shoes, which can quadruple a price, may not mean what it used to.
Thousands of Tuscan factories that produce the region’s fabled leather goods are now operated and staffed by Chinese. Though located in one of Italy’s most picturesque and tourist-frequented regions, many of the factories are nothing more than sweatshops with deplorable conditions and virtually indentured workers.
Chinese laborers have become such an integral cog in the high-fashion wheel that large Chinatowns have sprung up here and in Florence. Signs in Chinese, Italian and sometimes English advertise prontomoda (ready-to-wear). At the main public hospital in Prato, the maternity ward on a recent morning was a cacophony of 40 squalling babies, 15 of them Chinese. “Mi chiamo Zhong Ti,” one of the crib tags said — “My name is Zhong Ti.”
In Prato, Tuscany’s historic and industrious textile center 10 miles northwest of Florence, Chinese who are legal residents make up about 12% of the population (and probably close to 25% when illegal Chinese are counted, police say).
For the big-name clothing labels, Chinese-staffed workshops provide an important way of keeping costs down by supplying cheaply and quickly made purses, shoes and other products. It helps the fashion houses compete and, many argue, it’s better than the alternative: moving all production offshore.
But for legions of Italian craftsmen and -women who try to maintain painstaking but costly old-style practices, the cheaper Chinese labor is deadly.
Cont’d — http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-madeinitaly20feb20,0,7852016.story
My Response:
This article mainly talks about how the “Made in Italy” label on fashion items, such as purses and shoes, is often not true. While the items may often be made in Italy, they are not often made by the Italian people in the traditional Italian way, but are made by legal or illegal Chinese immigrants. I picked this article because I am very big on the fashion industry. I know about the types of brands that are made in Italy and found it very disappointing that they are not indeed made with Italian quality anymore. As a buyer of these items, I find myself cheated.
Besides the obvious reasons of feeling cheated, I enjoy how the writer conveyed his points. He explained how in the small Italian city of Prato, about twenty-five percent of the population is made up of legal and illegal Chinese immigrants. Italian companies use these people for cheap labor to produce their products. However, the author brings up the point of it being fair to consumers who buy these products, not knowing that the thousands of dollars they pay for a supposedly Italian made item actually cost these companies thirty American dollars to produce.
While it may be better for the business to use this process of cheap labor, I believe in the end, if people start to find out that their items are being made by illegal people that they will discontinue their buying of these products, which in turn will leave the companies without business. Italian businesses need to realize that they are cheating their consumers and should put an end to this labor. I believe that Italian products should be made by the Italian people and Chinese products should be made by the Chinese people and that’s that!
