- On 20 November, media reports announced that Italian prosecutors are seeking a six-month advertising ban for Italian garment brand Tod’s. Prosecutors are also pursuing three of its high-level executives in connection with alleged labour exploitation in the brand’s Italian supply chain. This follows the earlier announcement on 8 October that prosecutors had asked to place the company under court administration.
- Tod’s is the sixth Italian luxury brand investigated by the Milan public prosecutors since early 2024, following Dior, Armani, Loro Piana, Valentino Bags Lab, and Alviero Martini. However, this is the first case in which criminal investigations have been launched directly against a brand and its executives, and the first time an advertising ban is being sought in addition to court administration.
- Prosecutors allege that “Tod’s was fully aware of and complicit in labour exploitation” in its subcontracted workshops, citing years of third-party audits that “flagged problems but that these were ignored”. According to Reuters, the Prosecutors claim in their legal brief that workers were “exploited with the active knowledge of the company” in two Chinese-owned workshops in the Milan area and three factories in the Marche region, where Tod’s is headquartered. These documents are not publicly available, and we have not been able to independently confirm these allegations.
- The Milan judge originally scheduled a hearing for 3 December, but this has been postponed to 23 February following a request from Tod’s to allow time to implement measures designed to prevent any recurrence of labour exploitation by its subcontractors. There also remains an open jurisdictional question about whether the case should be heard in the Marche region where Tod’s is headquartered, or if it should remaining Milan.
Milan prosecutors seek advertising ban and investigation into executive conduct in Tod’s labour exploitation case
17.12.2025
