ROME, July 18 — Italy’s competition watchdog launched an investigation yesterday into luxury fashion groups Armani and Dior for unfair commercial practices over allegations they used suppliers that underpaid and overworked their staff. As part of the probe, the AGCM watchdog and the Guardia di Finanza financial police on Tuesday carried out inspections at the headquarters of Giorgio Armani SpA and G.A.
Operations SpA as well as Christian Dior Italia Srl. The investigation comes after units of Armani and Dior were separately placed under judicial administration earlier this year following concerns over labour law violations by subcontractors. Both groups said they would cooperate with authorities but denied wrongdoing.
In a statement, the Armani group said it believed “the allegations have no merit and are confident of a positive result following the investigation”. Dior, meanwhile, said it condemned “in the strongest terms these acts contrary to its values and the code of conduct signed by these suppliers”. The competition watchdog said it had opened an investigation into the Armani and Dior group companies over possible violations of the consumer code in the way the companies promoted and sold clothes and accessories.
“In both cases, the companies may have issued untrue statements about their ethics and social responsibility, in particular with regard to working conditions and compliance with the law by their suppliers,” it said. It noted that the companies �.