"Made In Italy" Is Produced By Chinese People.

The label "made in Italy" will give people the impression that in the workshops that are visible on the hillside in Tuscany, the short, aged men and women craftsmen are wearing aprons, wearing glasses, and lying on wooden tables, cutting and sewing leather by hand.

You would never have thought of such a scene: in a shaky and shaky shed, Chinese immigrants worked long hours.

Today, the coveted "made in Italy" label on Prada bags and GUCCI shoes, which can make prices turn two times, may be different.

In Tuscany, thousands of leather goods factories have been controlled by Chinese people: the managers are Chinese and the workers are Chinese.

Although it is located in this picturesque and tourist area, many factories are sweatshops, and the production conditions are very bad. The workers are virtually the same as signing apprentices.

Chinese workers have become an integral part of the fashion industry.

Historically, Prato, 10 miles northwest of Florence, is a textile center in Tuscany.

Here, the legal residence of Chinese accounts for 12% of the total population (police said that if the illegal residence of the Chinese count, this figure is likely to be close to 25%).

For those famous characters, factories that are full of Chinese people provide an important way to reduce costs, because wallets, shoes and other products are cheap and fast growing.

This helps to keep the fashion stores selling these products competitive, and many claim that this is better than another option: to pfer all production lines abroad.

But for many Italy craftsmen who are trying to keep up with the past, the cost cutting technology, cheap Chinese labor is fatal.

"This is a crazy competition," Andrea Calistri said.

As a matter of fact, you can't compete. "

Calistri's family business has been spread for third generations now.

For more than half a century, their family has been making handbags for top designers.

In a way, it represents the dilemma faced by the whole country of Italy: how to maintain competition in the global economy while maintaining the standards that make a local technology famous?

The following three problems beset Italy's fashion industry: first, the counterfeit goods.

Secondly, some shoes and bags are produced in low cost areas such as China and India, but they are finally shipped to Italy with buckles, heels or belts.

Finally, those products are made entirely in Italy, but they are from the hands of Chinese immigrants.

Calistri said that the following situations might be possible: some of the same bags sold in a fashion shop were made by Chinese workers in Italy, while others were made by Italy workers in Italy.

The cost of the former is 20 euros, while the latter cost is 250 euros, but the price tag is the same.