Caporalato, Prosecutor calls for the commissioning of Tod's
According to the Milan Prosecutor's Office, the Della Valle family's shoe brand facilitated 'heavy exploitation' along the supply chain
by Sara Monaci
The Milan Public Prosecutor's Office asked for a court-ordered receivership of Tod's spa, the luxury footwear, leather goods and high-quality clothing giant led by Diego and Andrea Della Valle, for culpably facilitating 'heavy labour exploitation' along its production chain.
The request by the public prosecutor Paolo Storari - anticipated by Reuters and confirmed to LaPresse - is addressed to the Court of Cassation, which has set a hearing for November 19 after the initial rejection by the prevention measures section of the Court of Milan. The involvement of Tod's, whose board also includes figures such as Luca Cordero di Montezemolo and Luigi Abete, in the investigations on child labour and Chinese factories used in Italian high fashion had already emerged in July 2025 in the investigation that led to the judicial administration of the Loro Piana brand controlled by one of the ten richest families in the world (the Arnaults).
The company is not formally under investigation in the prosecutor's file with the Carabinieri of the Milan Labour Inspectorate Unit, but it is liable under Article 34 of the anti-mafia code for 'organisational deficiencies' and 'lack of controls' that 'culpably' facilitate contractors and subcontractors seriously suspected of caporalato.
As had already happened for five other important fashion brands (the last of which was Loro Piana spa), the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office requested the commissioner's office. This time, the Milan court did not immediately grant it for two reasons: the first was due to the type of investigation, firstly limited to clothing for internal staff and not for the market (therefore less exposed to the public and non-compliance with the ESG criteria); the second was due to the criterion of territoriality, given that the controls by the work protection unit of the Milan Carabinieri went as far as the Marche region.
The court did not contest the truthfulness and correctness of the controls, but objected to issues of competence. Thus, the public prosecutor Paolo Storari, who has been following the caporalato crimes for years, decided to appeal to the Supreme Court.
