What if your CEO faces criminal prosecution because of you?

The story I’d like to talk about you is the nightmare of every buyer and purchasing manager I’d met in my thirty years of Made in Italy belt production for brands.

Surely this is not the first time you heard a story like this because newspapers (online and offline) publish this kind of stories every day, but this may be the first time you heard the solution.

I know that making a statement like this is challenging, in fact I'm starting to feel the load of responsibility and your expectations on my shoulders, but as I told you also in my videos on my Youtube channel (shame on you if you do not follow me 😝), I’m tired of crafty or ignorant suppliers who reproduce like rabbits in the mating season and who throw mud on our Made in Italy production.

But let's get to the news I was talking about:

This news is reported by “Il Messaggero”, a historic national newspaper based in Rome and has been translated through Google.

I chose this news because it speaks specifically of leather goods, but if you type on Google "fake Made in Italy clothing" you will see that the search results are endless.

And don't think that since the goods come from abroad they are automatically of foreign origin.

Many people take this principle for granted, but the legislation currently in force provides that the goods can be labeled as "Made in Italy" in two cases:

- If the goods were produced in Italy (and the entire production chain is located in Italy)

- If the goods have been produced in two or more countries but the substantial processing, or the most important processing, is carried out in Italy.

The second is the least known principle and, without a doubt, also the one with the most blurred boundaries.

In fact, if an Italian company imports a Chinese upper and sole and assembles them in Italy, the final product can be labeled as Italian.

Did you know that?

If you answered yes, I'll give you a virtual five, otherwise I invite you to learn more about this topic by following me on my Youtube channel or on my blog.

The principle of substantial processing is not wrong in itself because, as we all know, the value of Made in Italy lies not only in the quality of our raw materials, but also and above all in the great manufacturing tradition that we inherit from generation to generation.

What is deeply wrong is to pretend, or worse still, not knowing the rules that underlie the attribution of origin of a product.

And you can't be expected to take care of it; you cannot know in detail the origin of all the raw materials that your supplier uses or where the subcontractors who is in charge of your production work from.

You agree with him on the styling, the colors, the materials, the price and the delivery times but for everything else you do one very difficult thing: you trust him.

You trust that he uses the material you have decided and not that he falls back on a cheaper material that he will then disguise; you trust that the processing and styling are exactly as he had presented you during the sampling phase and, above all, you trust that the delivery will be on time.

A nice load of trust, don't you think?

Considering above all that lately brands tend to accumulate the management of multiple suppliers and multiple product lines all on one or at most two buyers, thus exponentially increasing your load of responsibility.

Trust in your supplier is necessary to make it through the day.

But you must always remember that if your supplier makes a mistake (or lies) in affixing the Made in Italy brand, it is your goods that are seized. It's your CEO who risks a criminal case and you who risk the job.

But how to get out of this labyrinth?

Certainly choosing the most specialized supplier and not the one that costs less.

And this is the first, fundamental point.

The second is to demand written guarantees from your supplier on the origin of the leathers, accessories, buckles and any subcontractors employed.

You will feel like you are playing the part of “the pain in the ass” but it is certainly better to pass for the fussy eater than for the one who endangered the company: you know that fortune is blind while bad luck sees very well and if there is something that could go wrong, for sure it will.

And don't think that it is a phenomenon that affects only small crafty companies.

While I was leafing through the news I was talking about above I also found one, more than ten years ago, which involves none other than Dolce & Gabbana!

A brand that becomes the spokesperson of Made in Italy in the world: how can we forget the commercials shot by important directors such as Tornatore and set in Sicily in the 50s-60s? Especially if the protagonist is the beautiful Monica Bellucci ...

Yet, they too have fallen into the false and fallacious indication of origin and the seizure of the goods.

The story concerned a batch of "Dolce and Gabbana junior line" t-shirts and children's briefs that were assembled by a Turkish company but for which the maison controlled all stages of production, also sending the labels and tags.

In their case, the problem was not the affixing of the Made in, but the insertion of the wording "Dolce and Gabbana spa Legnago, Milan (Italy)" on the label; in fact, given that the goods were produced outside Italy, the reference to Italy in the address was considered misleading for the final customer and for this reason the goods were seized.

Dolce & Gabbana is not exactly the latest company to arrive on the market and, if they make these mistakes, what makes you safe?

Now that I've scared you enough, I can also get you back to work, perhaps with a little more awareness.

PLEASE WRITE ME IN THE COMMENTS or via email to danielgiaconia@outlook.com YOUR OPINION OR IF THERE IS A TOPIC THAT IS PARTICULARLY AT YOUR HEART AND WHICH YOU WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO ME.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this article.

Daniel Giaconia