"Italian prosecutors seek special supervision for Tod's over labour exploitation", 8 October 2025

Italian prosecutors are seeking to place...Tod's under judicial administration over alleged worker abuses in its supply chain...

Tod's...told Reuters it complies with the law...

The news of the investigation into the supply chain...came to light in a decision by Italy's Supreme Court... to set a date for a hearing in a dispute between Milan prosecutors and a local appeals court over the matter.

...Tod's said it had been informed of the hearing next month but was unaware of any further details.

"We can only reiterate that Tod's complies with current legislation, including labour law, and that constant checks are carried out on the workshops we select and use," it said.

Before starting work for Tod's, workshops sign agreements guaranteeing the quality of their employees' work environment and compliance with labour contracts, it added.

Prosecutors allege Tod's "culpably failed" to adequately oversee its suppliers in order to pursue higher profits. However, the company itself is not under investigation, with attention focused on cleaning up the supply chain...

In order to determine who has jurisdiction to proceed, the Supreme Court has set a hearing for 19 November...

According to court documents, the case involving Tod's regards subcontractors at the end of its supply chain, both in the Milan area and in the Marche region...

In the Milan area, from 2023 to 2024 Tod's assigned the production of company uniforms for its sales assistants to a company with no production capacity, which subcontracted the work to another Italian company. It, in turn, subcontracted the production to two Chinese-owned factories, which were placed under investigation for worker exploitation following the inspection.

In the Marche region, Tod's directly contracted two Chinese-owned workshops - one of which had subcontracted to another factory - for the production of uppers and other footwear components from January 2024 to January 2025.

In those workshops, inspectors found workers were paid on a piecework basis, resulting in a net hourly wage ranging from 2.75 euros ($3.20) to just over three euros, well below half of the 10 euros provided for in the national contract.

Workers also had 150 euros deducted from their monthly wages for accommodation and 100 euros for food, according to the court documents.