They call made in Italy, but that fact is unmade. Let's just say rotten. On top of the scale are the lords of fashion. Revered and untouchable: they put us face. A step below are the contractors. Cannon fodder: they put the blood. Giancarlo De Bortoli, 61, owner of Herry's packaging Pramaggiore, where the shades in Friuli Veneto, was a subcontractor. They sucked:
"I'm bringing the book in court. My world ends here. I had to stop first. I have resisted to the end for the employees, who were my family. It was useless. Let me be clear: not to blame either the government or banks. The designers were to strangle me, slowly but surely. And then I said, only by declaring bankruptcy, Giancarlo, you fall with honor, you are not the wax seal by the bailiff. " De Bortoli
a failure? How, in heaven's name? Can do his job like few others, has always worked hard 12 hours a day, prices competitive, he had come to produce 20,000 garments every year, not against debt, he has not enriched, was wise, he paid regular salaries, paid the social security contributions, not tax evasion in the industry for its workers had put the air conditioner and stereo. What more can you ask an entrepreneur? Spiegatemelo you.
I knew him Giancarlo De Bortoli well. It was one of the best Square, trust me. He even custom-made shirts for the 9 pilots of private aircraft fleet Benetton. Few were able to work in the silk, satin, chiffon, the crepe georgette like him. But no one had to know that his works came out of the high fashion garments for women with sewn on the labels of the biggest house in Italy: Gucci, Prada, Max Mara, Miu Miu, Etro, Sportmax, Costume National, Duke d ' Aosta, Cividini.
And Giorgio Armani: "I had to buy seven pliers to break the stitches pearls that covered his jacket." And then Valentino: "Three hundred pajamas ordered through the knitter Nigi Mogliano Veneto, yes, there is also the contractor of subcontractor. " And then the Fendi sisters, "Two hundred suits studded with sequins, pants will be weighed only 10 pounds." And foreign brands, because when it comes to outsourcing the whole world over: Emanuel Ungaro, Apara, Pringle of Scotland, Strenesse, Tse cashmere.
"I have produced shirts on behalf of Stella McCartney, daughter of Paul, the lead singer of the Beatles, the designer who made the wedding dress Madonna. But the house I've worked for more than ever was Jil Sander. For ten years the founder, Heidemarie Jilin Sander, from Hamburg he sent me the order for the shirts that she wore, its molds were kept here at my farm. "
I knew him well Giancarlo De Bortoli. But now no longer recognizes him. The one-day beard, eyes reddened, his voice trembling. "You are strange ideas. If it were not for my daughter and my two granddaughters ...», and the mind goes to the British designer Alexander McQueen, former pupil of Romeo Gigli and Givenchy, "We provide the shirts. He would have been 41 years in a few days. He died in London on 11 February. Suicide. " Since the summer of 2008, with 13 entrepreneurs from Veneto who are killed after seeing wrecked their company, almost a month.
Damn the day that De Bortoli gave it straight to his father Antonio, who had seen all emigrate to Switzerland i suoi figli. «Ero elettrotecnico alla Brown Boveri di Baden, stipendio ottimo. Papà mi telefonò: "È mai possibile che di tre figli debba morire senza averne almeno uno qui vicino a me?". Tornai a Motta di Livenza. Era il 1968. Sposai Maria Paola. Entrai nel ramo tessile con un amico. Volevo chiamare la nostra azienda Harry's, in onore di Ernest Hemingway, assiduo frequentatore dell'Harry's bar di Venezia.
"No, no, Arrigo Cipriani ci fa causa", obiettò il mio socio. E all'ultimo momento infilò nel marchio una "e" al posto della "a", Herry's». Ben presto Giancarlo e Maria Paola subentrarono all'amico. Avevano due laboratori: lei abiti da donna, lui camicie. «È morta nel 2004. Ho assorbito l'intera produzione nella mia azienda, come Maria Paola avrebbe desiderato. Negli anni d'oro eravamo arrivati a 97 dipendenti, tra fissi e occasionali. Ho chiuso che mi restavano solo 24 collaboratrici, tutte anziane».
Un solo errore ha commesso De Bortoli: s'è accorto troppo tardi che giù, in fondo alla scala, ci sono scantinati e garage brulicanti di terzisti extracomunitari che impiegano schiavi, per lo più clandestini, «gente che ai re Mida dell'ago e filo fornisce un paio di jeans a una cifra oscillante fra i 4 e i 6,50 euro, quando il prezzo minimo, per chi lavora con tutti i crismi, non può mai scendere sotto i 25-30, gente che per una camicia accetta 16-22 euro, mentre a me ne costava non meno di 30-36. Non la you win, you can not win, so unfair competition, without recourse to any rule. " He must
ut eveniant scandal. Now that De Bortoli has filed for bankruptcy, the hidden phenomenon emerges on the front pages of newspapers Veneto. "We will hunt down the Italian purchasers of Chinese laboratories are not in order: this is not made in Italy," promises Carmine Damiano, superintendent of Treviso. "Try a direct link is difficult: no customer entrusts their work directly, but relies on contractors to sign a contract which makes provision prohibiting subcontracting," warns Colonel Claudio Pascucci, commander of the Guardia di Finanza.
Thus, De Bortoli?
"Sure the gentlemen of fashion are not fools and know how to protect themselves from any kind of liability in case of violations along the production chain. As stated by Colonel Pascucci, in principle and an ethical point of view to call into question the customer is logical, but it is almost impossible to prove the guilt, because the laws are "too soft and easily subject to manipulation," his words. I'm still with the facts.
And what are the facts?
"What failed in 2009 in Veneto 240 weavers. That same year the Financial Police has discovered nearly 600 undocumented workers only in the Treviso area. That the technical manager of a big label on the eve of the anniversary of the deceased said to me: "You know, De Bortoli, you are privileged, because we find around us who does his job for 5 € and also makes us well "."
Some fashion houses could have been unaware that their clothes are subcontracted to sweatshops.
" Okay, we admit that's true. I also, ultimately, to save me I could turn to exploiting the knowledge of some customers. But when a famous designer imposes absurd prices, under a "take it or leave it" , know in advance who are slaves, can not reasonably believe that an Italian entrepreneur in him by the laws to be able to work on those terms. The proof is that I have failed. And this in my house it's called responsibility moral. "
Companies must look to profits, you know. Just to avoid ending up like Herry's.
"Yes, but there must be a measure even in the profits. Watch this tab for a suit is lined with Jil Sander, the 2010 season. Open seams, seam sealed, darts, hems folded edges reported overlocking hem, neckline, speed, lining, stitching of sbordatura not visible on the obverse, 14 folds that run counter clockwise on the skirt ... Will be thirty operations. It took 96.5 minutes to work a dress like that. I know how much they paid? Excluding VAT, € 40. It also had the gall to give me the tag with the retail price to put on: 890 €.
unheard of.
"And this shirt for women? Served 97 minutes. I was paid 24 euro. The boutique is at 490 €. Should I continue? ". Please
.
"This fax arrived from Switzerland. Gucci Group. They asked me a shirt for € 34.54. I managed to snatch an increase of 1.50 € to the difficulties in applying the buttons. She sees that the total price is € 41.73. In reality, then held me to test 3.50 and € 2.19 for the bulk, which would be the accessories that come from them. It's not over: a hanger Gucci can cost 3 euro. I sent a box and billed me. Advanced 20 hangers? I made them pay the same. I could return. However, the procedures for the return would have cost me half a day's work of an employee. He might as well give up. "
And so he worked at a loss.
"Exactly. Always hoping that things are straightened. There I put it all, believe me. I said to the designers, but at these prices I'm not in it, come and check in person, stay for a day on the farm and taught to you, such as economies of scale can do. I was squeezed to the bone. "Both," was the comment of one of them when he knew I was doomed, "which closes it to a laboratory open five more." Implication: foreigners. "
But when this crisis began?
"In 1997, for a shirt, Jil Sander gave me from 70,000 to 80,000 pounds last year on average 16-22 €, ie from 55% to 47% less. A contractor takes the pure labor and by law must be paid in 30 days. They began to settle in two months, three months. Then they transferred production abroad: Romania, Slovenia, Tunisia, Portugal. Finally, Italians have relocated in the basement. Laboratories-lager. There is no province is immune.
The Riviera del Brenta and Marca are plagued most of Prato. The slaves are not paid in time, but a tot a head. No matter how c'impiegano to finish: they work there, eat there, live there. Emerge an hour a day, such as submarines, and immediately return below, in artificial light. They sleep three hours a night. They do not know holidays, Christmas, Easter, New Year, Mid-August. Never stop and settle for a trifle. "
his colleagues how to save?
"The lucky ones, those who had enough money for severance, have contained the damage, closing now."
Why did not the same?
"Why could not pay the payment to the workers. Half of small businesses in the Veneto burned for some time, this provision. The final severance pay, € 24,000, I managed to pay an employee three years ago. Spread out in 12 installments. "
quantity invoiced?
'In 1995 I came to 3 billion pounds, or 2 million euro today. In 2007 I was down to € 684,000 the following year to 596,000. In 2009, the disaster just € 288,000. "
Forgive the brutality, she should have declared bankruptcy several years ago.
"I know myself. But who was he? Confucius? to say that when a man falls from cliff clinging to the bushes? I sold my townhouse and went to live in rent to bring a bit 'of money in the company. Since 2004 I have stopped me the salary, I gave all the savings fund. At Christmas I realized I was over in December and had turnover of € 18,000 in salary, bonus, contributions and personal income tax 90,000 I needed. " What was
for her work?
"Everything. I got up out of bed in the morning, reciting prayers and then I came here, proud of myself. But recently I said to Stephen Ben, who is the company for 21 years: we go to Auschwitz ... It is blasphemous to even think, he's right. But the feeling was. Humiliation, humiliation, humiliations, and do not know if we would come alive at night. There's nothing worse for an entrepreneur who fail to pay salaries to their employees. I stopped in July. I went on to advance. A supplier can wait, but not a family. I could no longer bear the gaze of the workers, though they were their own to encourage me: "Go ahead, Mr. Giancarlo, we we trust you '. "
Now what are your feelings when you see a fashion show on television?
" Repulsion. the last parade of Dolce and Gabbana was a big screen that were taking shots of seamstresses with a needle and thimble, to show that high fashion is all Italian. It is not true, can not be true. Otherwise I would not have declared bankruptcy. But these two men where they live? But they know it or not the contract of textiles and equalize the laundry? But know whether or not the school Calligaris Treviso and that of Azzano Decimo, where he imparted cutting, sewing and modeling, have closed a lifetime ago? The last apprentice who was ringing the bell to be taken is called Aurora, was 16 anni, e per avviarla all'haute couture me ne sono serviti cinque. Sono passati tre lustri da allora. Oggi le sarte si accontentano di pulire i cessi nelle aree di servizio: guadagnano di più».
Eppure le griffe spopolano.
«La gente cerca gli status symbol, crede di rendersi presentabile con un abito. Ma non sa neanche che cosa compra. La qualità è l'ultimo pensiero. Nessuno controlla, i politici per primi. Ma dài, lo sanno tutti da dove viene fuori l'alta moda italiana che italiana non è! Basterebbe andare a vedere le bollette dell'elettricità. Ci vogliono i 380 volt, mica i 220, per far marciare un laboratorio».
Non salva nessuno?
«Roberta Furlanetto e Luisa Beccaria, two Milanese designers who are producing everything from Italy in Italian hands. They demanded the sartorial details and pay me the right way. "
feels ashamed?
"Tanta. But the streets around their heads held high. Anyone who knows me knows that I have never stolen. "
Now that will?
"I have no idea. I am a failure. What can a failure? I trust in the mercy of the court. According to the lawyer, I sequestrerà a fifth of the survivor's pension to my wife, who is 800 Euros per month, and I pignorerà the furniture, leaving the bed and bowl. This is what I got from life. But at least I died standing up. "
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