Are the replica designer handbags all made in China by low paid workers?
“Made in Italy — in a Chinese Sweatshop” Chinese laborers have become such an integral cog in the high-fashion wheel that large Chinatowns have sprung up here and in Florence. Three categories of problematic production plague the Italian fashion industry. First there are the out-and-out counterfeits, part of a multibillion-dollar fraud denounced the world over. Consumers have long been aware of the fakes and knockoffs, made God-knows-where, that are hawked on street corners or out of the trunks of cars. Italian financial police last year conducted 250 raids on workshops in Tuscany alone and confiscated tons (literally) of cheap bags and shoes bearing fraudulent Prada, Fendi and Nike insignia. Then there is the gray area of shoes and bags assembled at least partially abroad in China, India, Malaysia and other low-cost locales, then brought to Italy for a final buckle, heel or strap. These items can, somewhat questionably, bear “Made in Italy” labels. Finally, there are the products made
